'ill! 


nia 


M)     II 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

AT  LOS  angele: 


/^ 


^^"0 


ILLINOIS  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY, 


/ 


KASKASKIA  AND  ITS  PARISH  RECORDS: 
OLD    FORT    CHARTRES; 


AND 


COL.  JOHN  TODD'S  RECORD  -  BOOK: 


BY 


EDWARD    G.   ^lASON, 

CHICAGO. 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINTING   COMPANY. 
I  88i. 


'    J  ,■>, 


3   i  J  3  J 

J       '       >       '.  33 


KASKASKIA  AND  ITS  PARISH  RECORDS. 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  Dec.  i6,  1879. 

In  Southern  Illinois,  near  the  Mississippi,  a  hundred  miles  or 

more  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  is  situated  the  ancient  village 

of  Kaskaskia,  supposed  to  be  the  oldest  permanent  European 

settlement  in  the  valley  of  the  Father  of  the  waters.     The  eminent 

gg  historian  who  concedes  to  it  this  distinction  finds  it  difficult  to 

55  fix  the  date  of  its  origin,  and   leaves  that  undetermined.*     Its 

^  foundation  has  been  variously  ascribed  to  members  of  La  Salle's 

expedition   to   the  mouth   of  the   Mississippi  on   their  return  in 

^  1682, t  to  Father  James  Gravier  in  1683  or  in  1685,;  to  Tonti  in 

^  i686,§  and  to  others  still,  missionaries  or  explorers,  at  different 

■<  dates   in   the   latter  part   of  the   seventeenth  century.     But   the 

uncertainty  upon  this  point  has  arisen,  in  part  at  least,  from  the 

confounding  of  Kaskaskia  with  an  earher  Indian  settlement  of 

the  same  name  on  the  Illinois  River,  where  was  established  the 

•^Jesuit  mission  afterwards  removed  to  the  existing  village.     And 

\  this,  perhaps,  will  be  more  apparent  from  a  brief  sketch  of  the 

rv  .history  of  that  mission. 

^      When  Father  Marquette  returned  from  his  adventurous  voyage 
.  upon  the  Mississippi  in  1673,  by  the  way  of  the  Illinois,  he  found 
^on   the    latter    river    a    village   of  the    Illinois   tribe,    containing 
•^  seventy-four  cabins,  which  was  called  Kaskaski^.      Its  inhabitants 
V,received  him  well,  and  obtained  from  him  a  promise  to  return 
/%nd  instruct  them.     He  kept  that  promise  faithfully,  undaunted 
by  disease  and   toilsome  journeys  and  inclement  weather,  and, 
'mfter  a  rude  wintering  by  the  Chicago  River,  reached  the  Illinois 
'village  again,  April  8th,   1675. ||     The  site  of  this  Indian  settle- 
ment has  since  been  identified  with  the  great  meadow  south  of 
the  modern  Town  of  Utica  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  neariy 
opposite  to  the  tall  cliff  soon  after  known  as  Fort  St.  Louis  of 
the  Ilhnois,  and  in  later  times  as  Starved  Rock.H      Marquette 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  I.  p.  195. 

t  Davidson  and  Stuve's  History  of  Illinois,  p.  no. 

X  Atlas  of  State  of  Illinois,  pp.   169,  202. 

§  Montague's  History  of  Randolph  County,  Illinois,  p.   12. 

II  Shea's  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  p.  55. 

H  Parkman's  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  p.  69. 

290746 


2  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH   RECORDS. 

established  there  a  mission,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and,  for  a  little 
time,  was  able  to  teach  the  chiefs  and  the  people.  But  continued 
illness  soon  obliged  him  to  set  forth  upon  that  return  voyage 
which  brought  him  to  a  lonely  grave  in  the  wilderness. 

To  him  succeeded  the  zealous  priest,  Claude  AUouez,  who 
seems  to  have  been  at  the  mission  the  following  year,  and  at  all 
events  reached  it  in  April,  1677.  He  was  lodged,  as  he  says,  in 
Marquette's  cabin,  and  erected  a  cross  25  feet  high  in  the  midst 
of  the  town,  which  the  old  men  earnestly  commended  him  to 
place  well  so  that  it  could  not  fall.  Departing  shortly  after,  he 
returned  in  1678,  but  the  incursions  of  the  resistless  warriors  of 
the  Five  Nations  scattered  the  Illinois,  and  checked  the  mission, 
and  the  approach  of  La  Salle,  who  was  unfriendly  to  him,  com- 
pelled Allouez's  retirement  the  following  year.  The  attempts  of 
the  priests  who  accompanied  La  Salle  to  continue  the  work,  were 
set  at  naught  by  the  attacks  of  the  Iroquois  upon  the  Illinois, 
Avho  fled  before  their  fierce  oppressors.  In  1684,  however, 
Allouez  returned  under  more  favorable  auspices,  and  was  at  the 
mission  the  greater  part  of  the  time  until  his  death  in  1690. 

He  was  followed  by  the  famous  Jesuit,  Sabastian  Rasle,  who 
embarked  in  a  canoe  at  Quebec,  in  August,  1691,  to  go  to  the 
Illinois,  and  completed  his  journey  of  more  than  eight  hundred 
leagues  the  following  spring,  ^^'ithin  two  years,  he  was  recalled 
to  his  original  charge  among  the  Abnaki  Indians,  to  find  a 
martyr's  fate  long  after  at  the  hands  of  New  England  soldiers  b\- 
the  waters  of  the  Kennebec. 

Father  James  (jravier,  who  had  been  at  the  mission  during 
Allouez's  absence  in  1687,  received  it  from  Father  Rasle,  and 
built  a  chapel  within  the  walls  of  Fort  St.  Louis  which  over- 
looked the  village.  His  journal  of  the  Mission  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  Our  Lady  at  the  Illinois  from  March  20th,  1693, 
to  February  15  th,  1694,  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of  his 
labors  among  the  Indians  upon  the  Illinois  River.*  This,  it  will 
be  noticed,  is  ten  years  or  more  after  the  time  when  some  have 
supposed  he  founded  the  present  Kaskaskia,  three  hundred  miles 
or  more  to  the  southward,  upon  the  Mississippi.  The  Illinois 
nation  or  confederacy  was  composed  of  five  bands  or  tribes, 
the  Kaskaskias,  the  Peorias,  the  Cahokias,  the  Tamaroas,  and 
the  Mitchigamias.  Gravier's  work  was  -principally  among  the 
first  of  these,  but  extended  also  to  the  Peorias.  He  longed  to 
include  in  it  the  Tamaroas  and  the  Cahokias,  who  were  on  the 
Mississippi,  between  his  mission  and  the  site  of  the  Kaskaskia  of 

•  Shea's  History  of  Catholic  Missions,  pp.  410-415. 


KASKASKIA   AND    ITS    PARISH    RECORDS.  3 

to-day,  but  was  unable  to  do  more  than  to  make  them  a  single 
brief  visit,  because  he  was  alone  in  the  land.  Of  the  Mitchi- 
gamias,  who  were  still  lower  down  the  great  river,  but  north  of 
the  place  he  is  said  to  have  founded  in  1683  or  1685,  and  whose 
village  he  must  have  passed  in  order  to  reach  it,  Gravier  seems 
hardly  to  have  heard,  and  it  is  but  reasonable  to  infer  that  at  the 
date  of  his  journal  he  had  not  traveled  as  far  as  their  settlement. 

During  his  stay  in  this  region,  Father  Gravier  studied  the 
language  of  the  Illinois,  and  reduced  it  to  grammatical  rules,  and 
was  regarded  by  his  successors  as  the  real  founder  of  the  mission, 
because  he  ensured  its  permanency.''  When  recalled  to  Michil- 
imackinac,  about  1699,  he  left  the  Fathers  Bineteau  and  Pinet 
in  charge  of  the  different  branches  of  the  original  establishment, 
and  with  them  labored  (rabriel  Marest,  who  seems  to  have  been 
particularly  associated  with  the  Kaskaskia  tribe.  It  will  readily 
be  seen  that  in  the  writings  of  such  a  number  of  missionaries,  at 
these  various  dates,  concerning  a  mission  frequently  spoken  of  as 
at  Kaskaskia,  or  the  village  of  the  Kaskaskias,  many  allusions  might 
occur  which  would  seem  to  refer  to  the  present  place  of  the  name. 

But  the  evidence  that  this  mission  remained  upon  the  Illinois 
River  until  the  year  1700,  and  that  there  was  no  settlement  before 
that  time  upon  the  site  of  the  Kaskaskia  we  now  know,  appears 
to  be  well-nigh  conclusive.  A  letter  written  to  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec  by  John  Francis  Buisson  de  St.  Cosme,  a  missionary 
priest,  describes  the  journey  of  his  party  from  Michilimackinac 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  by  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  in  the  year  i699.t  They  stayed  at  the  house  of  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  at  Ghicago,  and  set  out  from  there  about  Novem- 
ber first,  on  what  one  of  their  predecessors  calls  the  divine  river, 
named  by  the  Indians  Checagou,  and  mad©'  the  portage  to  the 
River  of  the  Illinois.  Passing  the  Illinois  village  before  referred 
to,  they  learned  that  most  of  the  Indians  had  gone  to  Peoria 
Lake  to  hunt.  Arriving  there,  they  met  the  Fathers  Pinet  and 
Maret,  with  their  flock,  of  which  St.  Cosme  gives  a  good  account, 
and  he  speaks  of  their  work  as  the  Illinois  mission.  The  party 
journeyed  onward,  under  the  guidance  of  La  Salle's  trusty 
lieutenant,  Tonti.  While  on  the  Illinois  River,  certain  Indians 
attempted  to  prevent  their  going  to  the  Mississippi,  and  intimated 
that  they  would  be  killed  if  they  did  so.  Tonti  replied  that  he 
did  not  fear  men,  that  they  had  seen  him  meet  the  Iroquois,  and 
knew  that  he  could  kill  men;  and  the  Indians  offered  no  further 
opposition.     They  reached  the  Mississippi  the  6th  of  1  )ecember, 

*  Marest's  Letter,  Kip.  p.  206. 

+  Early  Voyages  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  p.  43. 


4  KASKASKIA  AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

1699,  and  the  next  day  reached  the  village  of  the  Tamaroas,  who 
had  never  seen  any  "black  gown,"  except  for  a  few  days  when 
the  reverend  Father  Gravier  paid  them  a  visit.  A  week  later,  they 
ascended  a  rock  on  the  right,  going  down  the  river,  and  erected  a 
beautiful  cross,  which  their  escort  saluted  with  a  volley  of  muske- 
try, and  St.  Cosme  prayed  that  God  might  grant  that  the  cross, 
which  had  never  been  known  in  those  regions,  might  triumph 
there.  From  the  context  of  the  letter,  it  is  evident  that  this 
ceremony  took  place  not  far  below  the  site  of  the  present  Kas- 
kaskia,  which  St.  Cosme  must  have  passed  to  reach  this  rock, 
but  he  makes  no  mention  of  such  a  village.  Furthermore,  within 
fifteen  miles  or  so  of  Kaskaskia,  there  is  a  rocky  bluff  on  the  Mis- 
souri side  of  the  river,  known  now  as  the  Cape  of  the  Five  Men, 
or  Cap  Cinq  Hommes.  This  doubtless  is  a  corruption  of  the 
name  of  the  good  Father  St.  Cosme,  as  appears  from  a  map  made 
a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  which  gives  both  names, 
Cinqhommes  and  St.  Cosme,  to  this  very  bluff.  It  probably  is 
the  identical  one  which  he  ascended,  and  he  could  not  have 
spoken  of  the  cross  as  unknown  in  those  regions,  had  there  been 
any  settlement  so  near  the  spot  as  the  Kaskaskia  we  now  know. 
Tonti,  who  was  the  leader  of  this  party,  is  thought  by  some  to 
have  founded  Kaskaskia  in  1686.  Nobler  founder  could  no  town 
have  had  than  this  faithful  and  fearless  soldier,  but  the  facts  just 
narrated  make  such  a  theory  impossible. 

Again,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1700,  a  bold  voyager,  Le 
Sueur,  whose  journal  is  in  print,*  pushed  up  the  Mississij)pi  from 
its  mouth,  where  D'Iberville  had  just  planted  the  banner  of 
France,  and  passed  the  site  of  Kaskaskia,  without  notice  of  such 
a  place.  He  speaks  of  the  village  of  the  Tamaroas,  where,  by 
this  time,  St.  Cosme  had  taken  up  his  abode  on  his  return  from 
the  south.  About  July  15th,  going  northward,  Le  Sueur  arrived 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  and  there  met  three  Canadian  voyage- 
7trs  coming  to  join  his  party,  and  received  by  them  a  letter  from 
the  Jesuit  Marest,  dated  July  loth,  1700,  at  the  Mission  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  the  Illinois. 
The  letter  of  St.  Cosme,  and  the  journal  of  Le  Sueur,  seem  to 
show  clearly  enough  that  down  to  the  middle  of  the  year  1700, 
the  present  Kaskaskia  had  not  been  settled,  and  that  the  Mission 
was  still  on  the  Illinois  River. 

And  lastly,  we  have  the  journal  of  the  voyage  of  Father  James 
Gravier,  in  1700,  from  the  country  of  the  Illinois  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi ;t  from  which  we  learn  that  he  returned  from 
Michilimackinac,  and  set  out  from  Chicago  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 

*  Early  Voyages  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  p.  92.  t  P.  116. 


KASKASKIA   AND    ITS    PARISH    RECORDS.  5 

tember,  1700.  He  says  he  arrived  too  late  at  the  Illinois,  of 
whom  Father  Marest  had  charge,  to  prveent  the  transmigration  of 
the  village  of  the  Kaskaskias,  which  was  too  precipitately  made, 
on  vague  news  of  the  establishment  on  the  Mississippi,  evidently 
referring  to  the  landing  of  D'lberville  the  year  before.  He  did 
not  believe  that  the  Kaskaskias,  whom  Marest  accompanied, 
would  have  separated  from  the  Peorias  and  other  Illinois,  had 
he  arrived  sooner;  and  he  obtained  a  promise  from  the  Peorias 
to  await  his  return  from  the  Mississippi.  After  having  marched 
four  days  with  the  Kaskaskias,  Gravier  went  forward  with  Marest, 
whom  he  left  sick  at  the  Tamaroas  village,  and  departed  from 
there  October  9th,  1700,  to  go  to  the  lower  part  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, accompanied  only  by  some  Frenchmen.  The  Indians  with 
Marest,  we  may  presume,  halted  upon  the  peninsula  between  the 
Kaskaskia  and  the  Mississippi  Rivers,  where  we  soon  after  find 
them;  and  thus  doubtless  was  accomplished  the  transfer  of  the 
mission  to  its  final  location.  The  eagerness  of  the  Illinois  tribes 
to  be  in  closer  communication  with  the  French  was  probably 
intensified  by  their  desire  to  escape  any  further  assaults  from 
their  dreaded  enemies,  and  to  rear  their  wigwams  where  they 
would  never  hear  the  war-cry  of  the  Iroquois.  Both  motives 
would  operate  more  powerfully  with  the  Kaskaskias  than  with 
any  others,  because  they  had  been  longer  under  the  influence  of 
the  French,  and  because,  in  their  old  location,  they  were  the 
first  to  receive  the  onslaughts  of  the  relentless  foemen  of  the 
Illinois.  Hence  they  set  out  to  go  to  the  lower  Mississippi,  but 
Gravier's  influence,  and  perhaps  Marest's  illness  as  well,  led  them 
to  pause  at  the  first  suitable  resting-place,  and  that  became  their 
permanent  abode.  And  when  we  consider  that  a  few  years  later, 
this  same  Father  Marest,  who  accompanied  these  Indians  on 
their  migration,  was  stationed  at  the  present  Kaskaskia,  in  charge 
of  the  Mission  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  as  appears  from 
his  letters  ;'^  that  he  died  and  was  buried  there,  as  is  shown  by  the 
parish  records  ;t  and  that  we  hear  nothing  further  of  a  mission  of 
this  name  on  the  Illinois  River;  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that 
the  Kaskaskia  of  our  time  should  date  its  origin  from  the  fall  of 
of  the  year  1700,  and  should  honor  James  Gravier  and  Gabriel 
Marest  as  its  founders. 

From  Marest's  letters  we  know  that  some  Frenchmen  inter- 
married with  the  Indians  of  this  village,  and  dwelt  there,  and  we 
may  naturally  infer  that  their  presence  attracted  others  of  their 
race,  trappers,  fur  traders,  and  voyagairs  to  the  new  location. 
And  so,  almost  at  the  dawn  of  the  history  of  the  territory  included 

*  Marest's  Letter,  Kip.  p.  197. 

t  Kaskaskia  Parish  Records,  p.  9.      Buiial  Register. 


6  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH   RECORDS. 

within  tlie  limits  of  the  State  of  IlHnois,  the  present  Kaskaskia 
was  inhabited  by  a  mixed  population  of  whites  and  Indians, 
under  the  sway  of  the  priest  of  the  Order  of  Jesus.  At  first  a 
mission  simply,  then  a  trading  station,  and  soon  a  military  post; 
within  twenty  years  from  its  foundation,  it  had  enough  of  the 
features  of  a  permanent  settlement  to  justify  the  worthy  priests 
in  organizing  there  a  parish,  which  succeeded  to  their  beloved 
mission,  and  was  known  by  the  same  name. 

A  large  portion  of  the  church  records  of  this  parish,  beginning 
perhaps  with  its  establishment,  and  some  extracts  from  those  of 
the  earlier  mission,  have  fortunately  been  preserved  to  this  day; 
and  they  throw  many  a  curious  and  interesting  side-light  upon 
the  events  of  the  times  in  which  they  were  written.  Of  their 
authenticity  there  can  be  no  question.  Some  of  them  are  still  in 
the  custody  of  the  priest  of  the  parish,  and  others  are  in  the 
possession  of  a  prelate*  of  the  church  that  has  labored  so  long 
and  so  zealously  in  the  region  of  which  these  records  illustrate  the 
history.  By  his  thoughtful  care,  the  earlier  books,  which  suffered 
damage  at  Kaskaskia  in  the  flood  of  1844,  were  removed  to  a 
place  of  greater  security.  And  recently  the  volumes  containing 
the  entries  made  between  the  years  1695  '^^^'^  ^^35  have  been 
arranged  and  re-bound,  and  with  proper  care  may  remain  a  monu- 
ment of  the  early  history  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Illinois  for 
many  years  to  come. 

In  the  re-binding,  has  been  preserved  intact  the  old  parchment 
cover  of  the  first  of  these  records,  on  which  may  be  dimly  traced 
in  the  faded  ink  the  words  '■'■Rcgi strum  pro  anno  i6g6,''  but  the 
remainder  of  the  inscription  is  too  indistinct  to  be  deciphered. 
Probably  it  is  the  same  in  which  Father  Marest  carried  the  scanty 
records  of  the  mission  at  its  removal.  The  originals  of  these 
mission  records  have  not  been  preserved,  and  we  have  in  their 
stead  a  copy  of  a  i)ortion  only,  entitled  '"''Exti-ait  des  Rcgifres  de 
Baptemc  de  la  Mission  des  Illinois  sous  Ic  litre  de  F Inimaculee 
Conseption  de  la  S.  F.''  The  copy  itself,  a  small  (juarto  of  six 
pages,  is  in  Latin,  and  the  first  entry  is  of  the  ba])tism,  March 
20th,  1695,  by  James  Gravier,  of  Pierre  Aco,  the  newly  born  son 
of  Michael  Ato  and  Maria  Aramipinchicoue.  The  godfather  was 
D.  de  Mautchy,  in  whose  place  stood  D.  Montmidy,  and  the 
godmother  was  Maria  Joanna,  grandmother  of  the  boy.  This 
Michael  Aco  was  one  of  the  Frenclimen  who  accompanied  Father 
Hennepin  on  his  journey  to  the  Upper  Mississippi,  when  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony  were  discovered  and  named,  and  probably  was 
the  leader  of  the  party,  although  the  intrej^id  fitlsificr,  Hennepin, 

*  Right  Reverend  P.  J.  Baltes,  Pishop  of  Alton,  III. 


KASKASKIA    AND    ITS    PARISH    RECORDS.  7 

assumes  that  honor  for  himself  in  his  account  of  the  expedition. 
Acq's  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the  chief  of  the  Kaskaskias,  and 
Gravier's  journal  describes  their  marriage  in  1693.  She  was  a 
convert,  and  through  her  influence  her  parents  embraced  Christi- 
anity, and  she  rendered  great  service  to  the  missionaries  as  a 
teacher  of  the  children.  The  boy,  Pierre  Aco,  lived  to  be  a 
citizen  of  the  second  Kaskaskia,  and  the  transcript  of  the  old 
French  title  records  now  in  the  office  of  the  recorder  of  Randolph 
County,  Illinois,  contains  a  deed  from  him  of  a  lot  in  Kaskaskia, 
executed  September  12th,  1725.  The  two  other  entries  in  the 
mission  record  in  1695  are  of  the  baptisms  of  children  of  French 
fathers  and  Indian  mothers;  the  second  of  Michael,  son  of  Jean 
Colon  La  Violette  and  Catherine  Ekipakinoua,  whose  godfather 
was  Michael  Aco.  It  is  curious  to  notice  the  difficulty  the  good 
fathers  seem  to  have  found  in  writing  the  names  of  the  Indian 
women  who  appeared  at  these  baptisms,  as  mothers  and  god- 
mothers of  the  infants,  as  shown  by  their  use  of  Greek  characters 
for  this  purpose.  We  can  imagine  them  standing  at  the  font, 
listening  to  the  many  syllabled  titles  of  parents  and  sponsors, 
smoothly  uttered  in  the  Illinois  tongue,  and  vainly  trying  to  re- 
produce them,  until  in  despair  they  have  resource  to  their  classi- 
cal learning  for  symbols  of  something  akin  to  the  new  sounds. 

In  the  year  1697,  another  son  of  La  Violette  and  Catherine  of 
the  lengthy  name,  was  baptized  by  Father  Julian  Bineteau,  who 
had  been  a  missionary  in  Maine  in  1693,  and  the  next  year  was 
stationed  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  St.  Cosme  met  him  at  Chicago, 
in  1699,  when  he  had  recently  come  in  from  the  Illinois  and 
was  ill.  He  died,  not  long  after,  while  following  his  Indians  on 
their  summer  hunt  over  the  parched  prairies,  when  fatigue  and 
exposure  led  to  a  severe  sickness,  of  which  he  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  devoted  colleague,  Gabriel  Marest. 

In  September,  1699,  Father  Marest  baptized  Theresa  Panicoue; 
and  the  same  year,  in  November,  another  son  of  La  Violette  was 
baptized  by  De  Montigny  of  the  same  party  with  St.  Cosme,  and 
Tonti  was  the  godfather.  St.  Cosme  in  the  letter  from  which 
quotation  has  been  made,  speaking  of  their  descent  of  the  Illinois 
and  landing  at  an  Indian  village,  November  28,  1699,  says:  "We 
said  mass  in  the  cabin  of  a  soldier  named  La  Violette,  married  to 
a  squaw,  whose  child  Mr.  De  Montigny  baptized.''  The  entry  in 
the  mission  record  and  the  letter  therefore  confirm  each  other. 

The  first  ceremony  recorded  after  the  removal  of  the  mission 
to  the  present  village,  is  a  baptism  performed  April  17,  1701,  by 
Gabriel  Marest;  and  the  first,  and  indeed  the  only  one  at  which 
Gravier  officiated,  after  this  removal,  occurred  April  13,  1703, 
when  he  baptized  the  infant  son  of  Pierre  Bizaillon  and  Maria 


8  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

Theresia.  No  further  mention  is  made  of  Father  Gravier  in  these 
records;  but  we  know  from  other  sources  that  he  returned  to  the 
Peorias  to  labor  among  them,  was  dangerously  wounded  in  a 
tumult  excited  by  the  medicine  men,  and  descended  the  river  in 
search  of  medical  treatment,  and  that  his  injuries,  aggravated  by 
the  long  voyage,  proved  fatal  to  him  at  Mobile  in  1706. 

Under  date  of  April  13,  1703,  there  appears  in  the  midst  of 
the  entries  of  baptisms  the  single  sentence  ''Ad  ripam  Mdchaga- 
mia  dictam  venivius."  Whether  this  commemorates  an  expedition 
by  some  priest  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  perhaps  he 
gazed  upon  from  the  site  of  Chicago,  or  a  visit  to  the  little  river 
flowing  into  the  Mississippi,  by  which  dwelt  the  Mitchagamias, 
who  gave  their  name  to  both  lake  and  river,  we  cannot  tell.  But 
it  indicates  an  event  which  to  some  one  seemed  of  importance 
enough  to  be  recorded  in  the  archives  of  the  mission  as  carefully 
as  were  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.  In  1707,  first  appears  the 
name  of  the  Father  P.  J.  Mermet,  who  came  from  the  great 
village  of  the  Peorias,  after  the  death  of  Pinet  and  Bineteau,  to 
join  Marest,  with  whom  he  was  happily  associated  for  many  years. 
The  latter,  writing  of  their  life  at  Kaskaskia,  says:  "Mermet 
remains  at  the  village  for  the  instruction  of  the  Indians  who  stay 
there,  the  delicacy  of  his  constitution  placing  it  entirely  out  of 
his  power  to  sustain  the  fatigues  of  the  long  journeys.  Never- 
theless, in  spite  of  his  feeble  health,  I  can  say  that  he  is  the  soul 
of  this  mission.  For  myself,  who  am  so  constituted  that  I  can 
run  on  the  snow  with  the  rapidity  with  which  a  paddle  is  worked 
in  a  canoe,  and  wlio  have,  thanks  to  God,  the  strength  necessary 
to  endure  all  these  toils,  I  roam  through  the  forests  with  the  rest 
of  our  Indians,  much  the  greater  part  of  whom  pass  a  portion  of 
the  winter  in  the  chase." 

A])ril  26,  1707,  Mermet  performs  the  baptismal  ceremony  for 
the  daughter  of  Tinioe  Gutauticoue,  (godmother  Maria  Oucani- 
coue),  and  George  Thorel,  commonly  called  the  Parisian.  It  is 
strange  to  think  that  there  .should  have  been  at  that  early  day  in 
the  western  wilderness,  one  so  having  so  much  of  the  airs  and 
graces  of  the  gay  capital  of  ?>ance,  as  to  be  known  distinctively 
as  its  citizen.  The  subsequent  baptisms  at  the  mission  seem 
all  to  have  been  by  Mermet  and  Marest,  and  the  names  of  the 
women  are  usually  Indian,  including  such  remarkable  ones  as 
Martha  Merounouetanioucoue  and  Domitilla  Tehuigouanakiga- 
boucoue.  Occasionally,  however,  both  parents  are  French. 
Thus,  March  3d,  17 15,  was  baptized  Joannes  son  of  Jean 
Baptiste  Potier  and  Francoise  Le  Brise,  who  officiated  as  god- 
mother at  a  ceremony  in  November  of  the  same  year.  These 
are  the  earliest  appearances  of  one  of  the  matrons  of  the  hamlet,. 


KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH   RECORDS.  9 

who  seems  from  subsequent  notices  to  have  afterwards  become  a 
perennial  godmother.  She  figures  in  that  capacity  on  two  occa- 
sions in  17 17,  having  also  presented  a  child  of  her  own  for 
baptism  in  that  year,  and  on  one  of  the  only  two  chronicled  in 
1 7 18,  and  we  find  her  at  the  font  again  in  17 19.  With  an  entry 
made  October  2d  of  the  latter  year,  the  baptismal  register  of  the 
mission  proper  seems  to  end;  although  a  very  few  entries  in 
1732-3  and  1735  are  appended,  but  these  seem  to  belong  rather 
to  the  parish. 

For  the  parish,  by  this  time,  had  been  established;  and  the 
next  in  order  of  these  documents  is  a  quarto  of  twenty-two  pages, 
written  in  French,  as  all  the  rest  of  these  records  are,  beginning 
with  the  '■'■Registre  Des  Baptcmcs  fails  dans  L'eglisc  de  la  Alissmi  et 
dans  la  Paroisse  de  la  Conception  de  Ne  dame.  Commence  le  18 
yuin,  lyig."  It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  mission  chapel  was 
still  in  use,  but  that  a  parish  had  been  duly  formed.  And  we 
learn  from  the  first  entry  that  another  element  had  been  added 
to  the  population,  and  that  the  soldiers  of  France  were  at  the 
httle  village.  This  is  of  a  baptism  performed  June  18,  17 19,  by 
Le  Boullenger  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  chaplain  of  the  troops,  and 
the  godfather  is  Le  Sieur  Jacques  Bouchart  de  Verasae,  ensign  of 
the  troops.  We  may  mention  in  passing  that  the  infant  is  the 
daughter  of  the  marriage  of  Jean  B.  Potier  and  Francoise  Le  Brise. 
The  priest  here  named,  Joseph  Ignatius  le  Boullenger,  is  said  to 
have  been  a  man  of  great  missionary  tact  and  wonderful  skill  in 
languages.  His  Illinois  catechism,  and  instructions  in  the  same 
dialect  concerning  the  mass  and  the  sacraments,  were  considered 
to  be  masterpieces  by  other  missionaries,  for  whose  benefit  he 
prepared  a  literal  French  translation.  The  names  of  French 
ofticers,  Charles  Legardeur  de  L'Isle  and  Claflide  Charles  du 
Tisne,  appear  as  godfathers  in  two  succeeding  entries,  and  our 
good  friend  Francoise  Le  Brise  officiates  on  both  occasions  as 
godmother.  We  regret  to  notice  that  the  godmothers  as  a  rule, 
and  she  is  no  exception,  declare  that  they  are  unable  to  write, 
and  therefore  make  their  marks.  One  baptism  is  of  the  daughter 
of  a  slave  woman  bearing  an  Indian  name.  January  20,  1720, 
was  baptized  the  son  of  Charles  Danis,  a  name  well  known  at 
Kaskaskia  as  that  of  one  of  the  first  settlers,  to  whom  was  made 
the  earliest  recorded  land-grant  in  that  locality.  It  was  dated 
May  10,  1722,  and  executed  by  Pierre  Duque  Boisbriant,  Knight 
of  the  military  order  of  St.  Louis,  and  first  king's  lieutenant  of 
the  province  of  I>ouisiana,  commanding  at  the  Illinois,  and  Marc 
Antoine  de  la  loire  des  Ursins,  principal  secretary  for  the  Royal 
India  Company.  The  godfather  for  Danis'  child  was  this  same 
Pierre  Duque  Boisbriant,  who  was  the  first  military  commander 


lO  kASKASKIA    AND    ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

in  that  region,  and  in  one  sense  may  be  called  the  first  governor 
of  Illinois.  And  about  this  time  we  meet  with  the  name  of  Jean 
Charles  (niymonneau  of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  who  was  the 
l)rincipal  officer  of  the  church  at  the  Illinois,  and  had  special 
charge  of  an  Indian  village  si.\  miles  inland  from  the  Mississippi. 
And  now  another  change  takes  place,  and  Kaskaskia  is  no 
longer  in  the  pastoral  care  of  a  missionary  or  military  chaplain, 
but  has  its  regular  parish  priest.  Father  Nicholas  Ignatius  de 
Beaubois,  who  describes  himself  as  ''cure  de  cette  Paroisse,'^  signal- 
izes his  accession  by  opening  a  new  "■  Registre  des  Baptemes  faits 
dans  reglise  Paroissiale  de  la  Conception  de  Nc  Dame  des  Cascaskias," 
which  he  commences  July  9,  1720.  And  this,  perhaps,  indicates 
the  time  of  the  substitution  of  a  parish  church  for  the  earlier 
mission  chapel.  The  entries  preceding  this  date,  made  by  Boul- 
lenger  and  (luymonneau  are.  as  the  manuscript  plainly  shows, 
copies,  and  not  the  original  record,  and  how  this  happened  we 
speedly  learn.  For  the  precise  Beaubois  inserts  in  his  register 
the  following  statement:  "All  that  which  preceeds  is  an  extract 
which  I,  Nicholas  Ig.  de  Beaubois,  S.  J.,  Cure'  of  the  parish  of 
the  Conception  of  our  lady  of  the  Cascaskias,  certified  to  be 
correct  and  conformed  to  the  original,  which  I  liave  suppressed 
l)ecause  it  was  not  in  order,  and  because  it  was  kept  on  scattered 
leaves,  and  the  present  extract  is  signed  by  two  witnesses,  who 
have  compared  the  present  copy  with  the  original;  the  25th  of 
July,  1720:  De  Beaubois,  S.  J."  We  could  wish  that  this  choleric 
I)riest  had  been  a  little  more  patent,  or  his  predecessor  a  little 
more  careful,  for  the  .scattered  leaves  of  that  suppressed  original 
contained  jjrobably  the  only  autograph  of  Commandant  Bois- 
briant  ever  written  in  the  ])arish  register,  and  would  have  been  a 
little  earlier  original  record  than  any  we  know  of  now  in  Illinois. 
But  it  was  not  .so  to  be,  and  w^e  must  content  ourselves  with  the 
fact  that  this  register  which  Beaubois  began  is  an  undoubted 
original,  containing  perhaps  the  earliest  existing  manuscript 
])enncd  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Illinois.  And  its  ojjening 
entry  of  July  9th,  1720,  has  a  special  interest  of  its  own,  for  the 
godfather  at  that  bai)tism  was  "Le  Sieur  Pierre  D'Artaguiette," 
captain  of  a  company,  and  his  signature  is  appended.  He  was  a 
gallant  young  officer  of  good  family  in  France,  who  some  years 
later  distinguished  himself  greatly  in  the  wars  with  the  Natchez 
Indians,  and  won  promotion  thereby,  and  the  position  of  Com- 
mandant at  the  Illinois.  From  his  station  there,  in  173G,  he 
marched  against  the  Chicka.saws,  under  the  orders  of  the  royal 
governor  of  Louisiana,  and  bravely  met  a  tragic  death  in  the 
campaign.  Next  we  have  an  entry  of  a  child  baptized  by  a 
.soldier,   because   it  was   in   danger  of  death  before  it  could  be 


KASKASKIA    AND    ITS    J'ARISH    RECORDS.  II 

brought  to  a  priest,  but  I^eaubois,  nevertheless,  ]3erfornis  the 
ceremony  over  again.  In  the  year  1720,  le  Sieur  Girardot,  ensign 
of  the  troops,  appears  as  godfether,  and  from  this  time  on  regu- 
larly officiates  in  that  capacity,  vieing  with  Francoise  Le  Brise 
in  frequency  of  attendance  at  the  baptismal  rite  in  the  character 
of  sponsor.  His  name  was  long  known  in  Kaskaskia  and  its 
neighborhood,  where  he  spent  many  years,  and  it  is  probably 
borne  to-day  by  the  town  of  Cape  Girardeau  in  Missouri.  In 
172 1,  Le  Sieur  Nicholas  Michel  Chassin,  Commissary  of  the 
Company  of  the  West  in  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  signs  the 
register.  He  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  John  Law's  famous 
Mississippi  Company,  or  Company  of  the  West,  afterwards  merged 
in  the  Company  of  the  Indies.  In  the  same  year,  a  child  was 
re-baptized,  over  whom  the  ceremony  had  been  once  performed, 
on  account  of  the  risk  and  danger  of  the  voyage  up  the  Missis- 
sippi, by  le  Sieur  Noyent,  Major  de  la  Place,  at  New  Orleans, 
September  10,  1720,  which  seems  to  show  that  the  date  of  1723, 
usually  given  for  the  founding  of  New  Orleans,  is  incorrect.  So 
too  a  child,  born  at  the  Natchez  in  December,  1720,  and  baptized 
there  by  a  voyagei/r,  Pierre  La  Violette,  probably  a  son  of  the 
soldier  named  in  the  mission  records,  was  again  baptized  at 
Kaskaskia  in  May,  1721.  And  in  the  following  June,  that  worthy 
woman,  Francoise  Le  Brise,  comes  once  more  to  the  front  in  her 
favorite  role  of  godmother,  and  unhesitatingly  asserts  that  she  is 
not  able  to  sign  her  name,  and  is  permitted  to  make  her  mark, 
which  she  does  with  a  vigor  and  emphasis,  which  indicates  that 
she  was  a  woman  of  weight  and  influence  in  the  community.  Bv 
this  time  she  has  a  competitor  in  one  Catharine  Juillet,  who 
almost  divides  the  honors  with  her,  and  who  about  this  period 
officiates  at  the  baptism  of  the  son  of  a  Pawnee  slave,  in  company 
with  le  Sieur  Philippe  de  la  Renaudiere,  dirccteur  des  mines  pour 
hi  Compagiiie  d^ Occident^  who  signs  his  name  to  the  i^gister.  And 
the  succeeding  entry  is  that  of  the  baptism  of  the  son  born  of 
the  marriage  of  this  Renaudiere,  who  was  a  great  man  in  the  new 

olony,  and  the  lady  Perrine  Pivet.  This  affair  was  one  of  state, 
ind  to  the  record  of  it  are  affixed  the  signatures,  not  only  of  the 
Darents  and  the  godfather,  Le  Gardeur  de  L'IsIe,  but  of  D'Arta- 

uiette,  Chassin,  St.  Jean  Tonty — perhaps  a  relative  of  the  great 
Fonti — Jean  Baptiste  Girardot  and  others.  The  last  entry  of  a 
Daptism  in  this  book  is  on  July  28th,  1721,  and  no  baptismal 
egister  between  that  date  and  the  year  1759  can  now  be  found. 
But  next  in  order  of  time  comes  the  Registrc  dcs  Decedcs  dans 
\t  Pafoisse  de  la  Conception  de  Notre  Dame  des  Cascaskias,  Coni- 
ncnce  le  4e  de  Janvier  1721,  which  begins  with  "the  death  in 
he  parish  on  that  day,  at  two  hours  after  midnight,  of  Adrien 


12  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

Robillard,  aged  about  forty-one  years,  an  inhabitant  of  the  parish, 
married  the  preceding  night  to  Domitilla  Sacatchioucoua.  He 
had  made  confession  and  received  the  viaticum  and  the  sacra- 
ment of  extreme  unction.  His  body  was  buried  with  the 
accustomed  ceremonies  in  the  cemetery  of  the  parish,  upon  the 
high  ground  near  the  church,  the  same  day  of  the  month  and 
year  aforesaid.  In  witness  whereof  I  have  signed.  N.  Ig.  de 
Beaubois,  S.  J-  In  1721,  appears  the  death  of  the  wife  of 
Francois  Freiul,  called  the  Good- Hearted  One,  of  the  King's 
Brigade  of  Miners;  and  also  a  solemn  service  for  the  repose  of 
the  soul  of  the  deceased  Sieur  Louis  Tessier,  church-warden  of 
the  said  parish,  who  died  at  Natchez  the  third  of  the  month  of 
June.  In  1722,  an  entry  is  made,  which  strikingly  illustrates  the 
perils  which  beset  the  people  of  that  little  village  on  the  great 
river,  which  was  their  only  means  of  communication  with  the 
nearest  settlements,  hundreds  of  miles  away.  It  reads  as  follows 
"The  news  has  come  here  this  day  of  the  death  of  Alexis  Blaye 
and  Laurent  Bransart,  who  were  slain  upon  the  Mississippi  by 
the  Chickasaws.  The  day  of  their  death  is  not  known."  Then, 
in  a  different  ink,  as  if  written  at  another  time,  is  added  below 
"It  was  the  5th  or  6th  of  March,  1722."  And  this  state  of 
things  is  sadly  emphasized  by  the  entry  immediately  following, 
"The  same  year,  on  the  22d  of  June,  was  celebrated  in  the  parish 
church  of  the  Kaskaskias  a  solemn  service  for  the  repose  of  tht 
soul  of  the  lady  Michelle  Chauvin,  wife  of  Jacques  Nepvea 
merchant  of  Montreal,  aged  about  45  yeans,  and  of  Jean  Michelle 
Nepven,  aged  twenty  years,  and  Elizabeth  Nepven,  aged  13 
years,  and  Susanne  Nepven,  8  years,  her  children.  They  were 
slain  by  the  savages  from  5  to  7  leagues  from  the  Wabash.  It 
is  believed  that  Jaques  Nepven  was  taken  prisoner,  and  carried! 
away  with  one  young  boy,  aged  about  nine  years,  named  Prever, 
and  one  young  slave  girl,  not  baptized.'"  This  family,  doubtless, 
was  removing  from  Canada  to  Kaskaskia,  as  a  number  did  about 
this  time,  and  had  traveled  the  long  and  weary  way  by  the  St 
Lawrence  and  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  the  Miami  River,  th^ 
portage  to  the  Wabash,  and  the  Ohio.  From  fifteen  to  twent;, 
miles  above  the  moudi  of  the  latter  river,  then  called  the  WabasI 
by  the  I-'rench,  or  within  eighty  miles  or  so  of  their  destination 
when  they  were  counting  the  hours  to  their  glad  arrival  there 
they  were  waylaid  by  the  merciless  savages,  the  mother,  son,  am 
two  daughters  killed,  and  the  father  and  two  servants  take: 
cajjtives.  One  daughter  appears,  from  other  minutes  in  thes 
records,  to  have  escaped  this  catastrophe,  and  she  became  the 
wife  of  the  young  ensign,  Jean  B.  Girardot,  whose  signature 
becomes  so  familar  to  us  as  we  turn  these  ancient  pages.     There 


KASKASKIA   AND   ITS   PARISH    RECORDS.  13 

follows  another  solemn  service  for  Jean  B.  Robillard,  who  died 
and  was  buried  at  Point  Coupe'e,  upon  the  Mississippi,  the  14th 
of  July  of  the  year  1722,  and  then  the  death  of  Pierre  Barel,  a 
married  man  having  wife  a.nd  children  in  Canada. 

The  register  is  kept  entirely  by  Father  Beaubois  during  these 
years,  e.xcept  one  entry  by  Boullenger,  who  states  that  he  made 
it  for  Beaubois  in  his  absence,  which  words  are  heavily  under- 
lined. As  he  inserts  this  in  the  wrong  place,  by  order  of  dates, 
and  styles  it  an  omission,  it  is  a  wonder  that  Beaubois  permitted 
it  to  remain.  And  we  can  but  be  thankful  that  he  did  not  lose 
his  temper  on  .his  return,  and  suppress  all  that  had  gone  before 
ion  this  account. 

In  1724,  the  simple  relation  of  what  happened  in  a  single  day 

gives  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  sad  scenes  the  infant  settlement 

had  sometimes  to  witness.       In  that  year,    "the   12th  of  April, 

were  slain  at  break  of  day  by  the  Fox  Indians  four  men,  to-wit: 

Pierre  Du  Vaud,  a  married  man  about  twenty-five  years  of  age, 

Pierre  Bascau  dit  Beau  Soleil,  also  a  married  man  about  28  or  30 

years  of  age,  and  two  others,  of  whom   one  was  known  by  the 

name  of  the  Bohemian,  and  the  other  by  the  name  of  L'Etreneu- 

bieu,  the  three  last  dwelling  and  employed  at  Fort  de  Chartres. 

Their  bodies,  having  been  brought  to  Cascaskia  the  same  day  by 

the  French,  were  buried  at  sunset  in  the  cemetery  of  this  parish." 

From  break  of  day  to  set  of  sun !     These  four,  who  perhaps  had 

just  begun  their  daily  labor  in  the  forest  or  the  fifelds,  were  set 

apon  in  the  early  morning  by  the  wily  savages,  who  had  come 

from  the  far  away  Fox  villages  in  quest  of  scalps,   and   made 

^ood  their  retreat  with  their  trophies,  before  the  sad  news  was 

cnown  at  the  stronghold  where  the  victims  dwelt,  or  at  the  little 

illage  which  gave  them  sepulchre  before  the  evening  shades  had 

alien.      It  is  interesting  to  notice  also  that  one  of  these  men  was 

called  the  BoJiennait,  probably  the  first  of  that  race  who  came  to 

Illinois,  and  the  earliest  use  of  the  name  in  the  annals  of  the 

^Vest.     September  15,  1725,  is  mentioned  the  death  of  Martha, 

laughter   of  M.    Girardot,    ''officier  des  troupes,"  and  of  Theresa 

Nepven,   his  wife.     In    1726,  inserted  in   this  burial  register  are 

the  baptisms  of  a  negress  and  negro  belonging  to  residents  of  the 

tallage,  and  in    1727,  that  of  a  slave  of  the  Padoucah  tribe  of 

Indians.     These,  with  others  following,  seem  to  refer  to  baptisms 

Derformed  during  fatal  illness,  and  hence  included  in  the  list  of 

leaths.     The  attention  is  attracted  by  the  larger  handwriting,  and 

;he  crosses  and  heavy  lines  in  the  margin  of  the  last  entry  in  this 

Durial  register,  which  reads:   "On  the   i8th  of  December,  1727, 

lied  Zebedee  Le  Jeune  Donne',  of  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers, 

laving  received  the  sacraments,  and  was   buried  in  the  parish 


14  KASKASKIA   AND    ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

church,  under  the  second  bench  from  the  middle.  The  same 
day  were  transferred  from  the  old  chapel  to  the  said  church  the 
bodies  of  the  Reverend  Fathers  Gabriel  Marest  and  Jean  Mermet, 
religious  priests  of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  Missionaries  to  the 
Illinois,  who  died  at  the  said  mission."  Thus  we  learn  that 
Marest,  one  of  the  founders  of  Kaskaskia,  and  Mermet,  who 
likewise  was  most  intimately  associated  with  the  early  history  of 
the  place,  both  labored  there  until  the  end,  and  found  there  a 
grave.  The  good  shepherds,  who  had  followed  their  wandering 
flock  from  the  banks  of  the  lUinois  to  a  home  by  the  Mississippi, 
and  had  seen  the  roving  mission  change  to  a  permanent  settle 
ment,  where  they  had  toiled  long  and  zealously,  were  buried  firs 
in  the  mission  chapel.  But  when  this  structure  had  fallen  into 
decay,  and  a  new  edifice  had  taken  its  place,  loving  hands  rever- 
ently brought  thither  the  precious  dust,  that  the  faithful  pastor 
might  still  sleep  in  the  midst  of  their  own  people. 

The  record  of  the  deaths  occurring  in  the  parish,  between  th 
termination  of  this  register  in  1727  and  the  commencement  of  th 
burial  register  opened  in  1764,  has  disappeared.  After  the  firs 
burial  register,  and  in  the  same  book,  is  a  portion  of  the  firsi 
marriage  register  of  the  parish,  which  begins  abruptly  in  1724,! 
with  the  nuptials  of  Antoine  and  Marie,  slaves  of  the  Reveren 
Fathers  the  Jesuits.  Among  the  witnesses  who  sign,  are  Girardot 
who  seems  as  ready  to  officiate  at  a  wedding  as  at  a  christening, 
Zebedee  Le  Jeune,  the  priest  whose  death  in  1727  is  noted  i 
the  burial  register,  and  one  Francoise,  the  last  name  not  given,! 
who  makes  a'  mark  we  think  we  recognize,  and  who  does  no 
seem  to  be  at  all  deterred  from  oftering  her  services  as  a  witnes.s 
by  her  inability  to  write  her  name.  'Ilie  same  year  was  the 
marriage  of  the  widow  of  a  sergeant  of  the  king's  miners,  whic 
Girardot  witnesses,  and  that  of  a  Frenchman,  a  widower,  to  a; 
Indian  woman,  the  widow  of  Charles  Danis.  This  seems  to  have' 
been  a  notable  wedding,  and  D'Artaguiette  and  Legardeur  de 
LTsle  sign  among  the  witnesses,  and  the  inevitable  Francoise 
le  Brise  makes  her  mark.  Then  follows  the  marriage  of  a  native 
of  Brittany  with  Anne,  a  female  savage  of  the  Nachitoches  tribe, 
which  both  Girardot  and  Francoise  le  Brise  grace  with  their 
presence;  and  the  next  year,  that  of  a  Frenchman  with  a  German 
woman,  which  seems  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Abo- 
rigines, as  two  chiefs,  one  the  head  of  the  Tamaroa  tribe,  make 
their  marks  as  witnesses.  In  1726,  Jacques  Hyacinthe,  of  the 
Pawnee  nation,  was  married  to  Therese,  a  freed  savage  woman  of 
the  Padoucah  tribe,  and  the  whole  party  signed  with  their  marks. 

Turn  we  now  to  another  entry  of  which  the  handwriting,  clear   i 
as  copper-plate,  and  the  ink  almost  as  dark  as  if  used  but  yester- 


KASKASKIA    AND    ITS    I'ARISIF    RF.CORDS. 


15 


day,  make  it  well-nigli  impossible  to  realize  that  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  have  passed  since  the  characters  were 
formed,  and  the  event  described  took  place.  It  tells  us  that  in 
the  year  1727,  the  twentieth  day  of  the  month  of  October,  the 
nuptial  benediction  was  pronounced  over  two  inhabitants  of  the 
parish,  Joseph  Lorrin  and  Marie  Philippe,  and  shows  that  this 
was  a  great  social  event  in  the  early  day.  Chassin  of  the  Royal 
India  Company,  Girardot,  Pierre  de  Franchomme,  and  others  of 
the  gentry  of  Kaskaskia  sign  the  register  as  witnesses,  and  then 
appear  two  signatures,  distinct  and  bold  as  though  freshly  written, 
which  we  have  not  met  with  hitherto.  These  are  the  names  of 
Vinsenne  and  St.  Ange  fils;  the  Chevalier  Vinsenne,  commandant 
of  the  post  by  the  Wabash,  on  the  site  of  which  the  city  of  Vin- 
cennes,  in  Indiana,  bearing  a  name  derived  from  his,  has  grown 
up,  and  the  young  St.  Ange,  one  of  his  officers,  a  relative  doubt- 
less of  the  sterling  soldier,  who  was  to  be  the  last  French  Com- 
mandant of  the  Illinois.  They  had  come  from  their  distant 
station,  the  nearest  neighbor  of  Kaskaskia,  a  hundred  leagues,  in 
bark  canoes,  or  had  traversed  the  prairie  and  threaded  the  forest 
for  days  together,  to  greet  old  friends  and  new,  and  to  dance 
gaily  at  the  wedding,  all  unmindful  of  the  sad  fate  to  which  they 
were  doomed;  for,  ere  ten  years  passed  by,  these  two,  with  the 
knightly  D'Artaguiette  and  the  heroic  Jesuit  Senat,  were  to  perish 
at  the  stake  among  the  savage  Chickasaws,  who  wondered  to  see 
the  white  men  die  so  bravely. 

The  last  entry  in  this  marriage  record  is  under  date  of  June 
7th,  1729,  and  for  a  space  of  nearly  twelve  years,  or  until  January 
3d,  1 741,  there  is  no  register  of  marriages  in  this  parish  extant, 
and  the  book  containing  the  intervening  entries  has  probably 
been  destroyed.  On  the  day  last  mentioned  it  begins  again, 
with  R.  Tartarin  as  Cure,  and  from  that  time  on  it  is  kept  in  a 
folio  volume  of  220  pages,  apparently  containing  a  complete 
record  of  the  marriages  at  Kaskaskia,  from  1741  to  1835.  In 
November,  1741,  is  noted  the  marriage  of  the  widow  of  Pierre 
Groson  de  Ste.  Ange,  lieutenant  of  a  company  detached  from  the 
marine,  perhaps  the  young  officer  who  died  wi^h  D'Artaguiette 
five  years  before.  September  19th,  1746,  Father  P.  J.  Watrin 
becomes  Cure,  and  about  this  period  the  names  of  natives  of 
Quebec  and  of  Detroit,  residing  at  Kaskaskia,  frequently  occur 
in  the  register.  Brother  Charles  Magendie,  of  the  Company  of 
Jesus,  acts  as  assistant  to  Father  Watrin,  and  we  hear  also  of 
Monseigneur  Mercier,  Vicaire  General,  who  occasionally  exercises 
his  authority.  Slaves,  red  and  black,  and  freed  men  and  freed 
women  of  both  colors,  give  light  and  shade  to  the  good  father's 
pages,  and  are  dismissed  with  brief  mention.     But  when,  on  Jan. 


1 6  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

yth,  1748,  the  wedding  of  Monsieur  Joseph  Buchet,  exercising 
the  functions  of  Principal  Secretary  of  the  Marine,  Sub-delegate 
of  Monsieur  the  Commissary  Ordonnateur  and  Judge  at  the 
Illinois,  once  a  widower,  and  Marie  Louise  Michel,  twice  a 
widow,  is  celebrated,  and  the  Reverend  Father  Guyenne,  Superior 
of  the  Missions  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  in  Illinois,  performs 
the  ceremony,  assisted,  as  we  should  say,  by  the  priest  of  the 
parish,  the  entry  is  thrice  as  long  as  usual.  And  the  Chevalier 
de  Bertel,  Major  commanding  for  the  King  at  Fort  Chartres,  and 
Benoist  de  St.  Clair,  Captain  commanding  at  Kaskaskia,  sign  the 
record,  and  others  of  the  tirst  circles  of  Kaskaskia,  and  all  are 
able  to  write  their  names.  Then  follows  the  wedding  of  the 
daughter  of  Sieur  Leonard  Billeront,  Royal  Notary  at  the  Illinois, 
with  the  son  of  Charles  Valle'e,  another  name  known  long  and 
well  at  Kaskaskia. 

In  this  year.  Father  S.  L.  Meurin,  who  describes  himself  as  a 
missionary  priest  of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  exercising  the 
functions  of  Cure,  signs  one  marriage  entry;  and  the  next  year 
Father  M.  T.  Fourre  officiates  at  the  wedding  of  two  slaves  of 
Mr.  de  Montchevaux,  Captain  commanding  at  the  Cascaskias. 
And  January  13th,  1750,  Father  Watrin  performed  the  ceremony 
at  the  union  of  Jean  Baptiste  Benoist  de  St.  Claire,  Captain  of 
infantry,  who  had  now  become  commandant  at  the  Illinois,  and 
Marie  Bienvenue,  daughter  of  Antoine  Bienvenue,  Major  of 
militia,  who  had  not  long  before  removed  from  New  Orleans  to 
Kaskaskia,  where  his  decendants  still  reside.  And  the  same  year 
De  Giradot  signs  once  more  as  a  witness.  In  1751,  there 
appears  the  name  of  St.  Gemme,  which  later  was  prominent  in 
the  history  of  the  place.  When  the  property  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Kaskaskia  was  sold  by  the  French  commandant  for  the  crown, 
under  the  royal  decree  for  the  suppression  of  the  order,  St. 
Gemme  was  the  purchaser,  and  he  became  the  richest  subject  in 
the  village,  furnishing  to  the  King's  magazines  as  much  as  86,000 
weight  of  flour  in  a  single  season,  which  was  only  part  of  one 
year's  harvest.  The  family  came  from  Beauvais,  in  France,  and 
its  members  were  often  called  by  the  name  of  that  town,  but  the 
true  pacronymic  was  St.  Gemme,  which  some  descendants  of  that 
stock  to-day  write  St.  James.  In  1755,  De  Girardot's  signature 
greets  us  again,  and  for  the  last  time  in  these  records.  Aubert, 
Jesuit,  relieves  Watrin  in  1759,  and  the  succeeding  year  joins  in 
wedlock  Dussault  de  la  Croix,  officier  des  troupes  du  Roy,  son  of 
Messire  Dessault  de  la  Croix,  Chevalier  of  the  military  order  of 
St.  Louis,  and  the  widow  of  Antoine  de  Gruye,  Lieutenant  of  the 
troops,  written  permission  having  been  given  by  Monsieur  de 
Macarty,   Major  Commandant  at  the  Illinois.     One  of  the  wit- 


KASKASKIA   AND   ITS   PARISH    RECORDS.  \y 

nesses  is  Neyon  de  Villier,  a  bold  officer  in  the  old  French  war, 
who  did  much  damage  on  the  frontiers  of  the  colonies.  He  wa.s 
one  of  the  seven  brothers,  who  all  held  commissions  under  Kin^ 
Louis,  and  was  Macarty's  successor  as  Commandant  of  the 
Illinois  country.  April  nth,  1763,  the  bans  of  marriage  were 
published  for  the  third  time  between  Messire  Philippe  Francois 
de  Rastel,  "■  CheiHilier  de  Rocheblave,  officier  dcs  troupes  de  cttte 
£olotne,  natif  de  Savoiirnon  Diocese  de  Gap  en  Daiiphine,  fils  de 
Messire  yeati  Joseph  de  Bastel,  Chevalier  Marquis  de  Rochcblave, 
Seigneur  de  Savournon  le  Bersac  place  du  hourg  et  de  vallee  de 
vitrolles,"  and  Michel  Marie  Dufresne,  daughter  of  Jacques  Michel 
Dufresne,  officer  of  militia  of  this  parish;  written  permission 
having  been  given  by  Monsieur  De  Neyon  de  Villiers,  Major 
Commandant  at  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  who  signs  the  reg- 
ister. This  Rocheblave,  at  the  transfer  of  the  country  by  the 
French  to  the  English,  took  service  under  the  banner  of  St. 
George,  and  was  the  last  British  Commandant  of  the  Illinois, 
being  captured  at  Fort  Gage,  on  the  bluff  above  Kaskaskia,  July 
4th,  1778,  by  the  able  leader,  George  Rogers  Clark.  In  1764, 
Father  Meurin  seems  to  take  charge  of  the  parish,  which  he 
describes  as  that  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  holy 
virgin,  Village  of  Kaskaskias,  Country  of  the  Illinois,  Province 
of  Louisiana,  Diocese  of  Quebec;  and  associated  with  him  at 
times  was  Brother  Luc  Collet,  Missionary  Priest  at  the  Illinois. 

The  sturdy  priest,  Pierre  Gibault,  assumes  the  functions  of 
Cure'  des  Kaskaskias  et  Vicaire  General  des  lUinois  et  Tamarois, 
in  1768,  and  his  bold  signature,  with  its  unique  flourish,  greets 
us  through  these  records  for  fifteen  years  or  more.  We  should 
know  that  the  man  with  such  a  chirography  would  have  been  just 
the  one  to  render  the  efficient  assistance  given  to  George  Rogers 
Clark,  and  must  have  belonged  to  the  church  militant.  He  was 
very  slow  to  recognize  the  change  in  the  civil  government  of  the 
country,  when  it  was  ceded  by  France  to  England,  which  was  quite 
distasteful  to  him,  and  hardly  notices  it  in  these  records.  But  in 
1776,  when  the  Vicar-General  of  the  Illinois  country,  the  former 
cure,  S.  L.  Meurin,  officiated,  we  find  this  transfer  indicated  in  the 
mention  of  Mr.  Hugh  Lord,  Captain  commanding  for  his  Britan- 
nic Majesty,  and  his  signature  and  those  of  some  of  his  officers 
are  subscribed  to  one  entry.  In  May,  1778,  Father  Gibault  con- 
descends to  speak  of  Mr.  De  Rocheblave  as  Commandant-in-Chief 
in  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  but  does  not  say  under  which  king; 
and  before  he  made  the  next  entry,  4th  August  of  same  year,  the 
hapless  Rocheblave,  to  Gibault's  great  satisfaction,  was  on  his 
way  to  Virginia,  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  Clark  and  his  "Long 
Knives,"  as  his  men  were  called,  held  the  fort. 


1 8  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

Reluctantly  we  see  the  last  of  the  handwriting  of  this  friend  of 
the  new  republic,  which  is  followed  in  1785,  by  that  of  De  Saint 
Pierre  as  Cure,  and  De  la  Valiniere  as  Vicar-General;  and  in 
their  time,  from  1792  onward,  English  names  begin  to  appear, 
such  as  Archibald  McNabb,  of  Aberdeen,  and  William  St.  Clair, 
son  of  James  St.  Clair,  captain  in  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  service 
of  France,  and  John  Edgar,  once  an  English  officer,  and  after- 
ward a  prominent  citizen  of  Kaskaskia  and  of  Illinois,  and 
Rachel  Edgar,  his  American  wife,  who  persuaded  him  to  for- 
swear the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  all  his  works ;  and  William 
Morrison,  who  emigrated  from  Philadelphia,  in  1790,  to  establish 
a  mercantile  business  in  the  old  French  town.  And  with  these 
are  the  new  French  names,  representing  the  arrivals  from  Canada 
during  that  period,  and  noticeable  among  them  that  of  Pierre 
Menard,  afterwards  the  first  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois,  the 
son  of  a  liberty-loving  Canadian,  who  fought  by  the  side  of 
Montgomery,  at  Quebec.  In  1793,  Gabriel  Richard  takes  up  the 
record  as  parish  priest.  Later  he  was  stationed  at  Detroit,  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  early  history  of  Michigan,  representing 
that  Territory  in  Congress,  and  was  the  only  Catholic  priest  who 
was  ever  a  member  of  that  body. 

The  register  runs  oh  without  a  break  well  into  the  present 
century,  and  we  note  as  we  pass  the  marriage  on  May  2 2d,  1806, 
of  Pierre  Menard,  widower,  and  Angelique  Saucier,  grand- 
daughter of  Jean  B.  Saucier,  once  a  French  officer  at  Fort 
Chartres,  who  resigned  and  settled  in  the  Illinois  country. 
Donatien  Ollivier  was  the  officiating  priest.  In  181 7,  at  the 
wedding  of  a  daughter  of  William  Morrison,  Ninian  Edwards, 
then  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  afterward  third  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  and  Shadrach  Bond,  first  Governor  of  the 
State,  sign  as  witnesses.  July  11,  1819,  at  the  marriage  of  a  son 
of  Pierre  Chouteau  to  a  daughter  of  Pierre  Menard,  it  is  recited 
that  the  husband  was  born  at  St.  Louis  in  the  Missouri  Territory, 
and  the  wife  at  Kaskaskia  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  is  the 
first  mention  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  these  records.  Many 
members  of  these  two  families,  both  prominent  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Illinois  country,  witness  this  entry.  In  April, 
1820,  William  Morrison,  Eliza,  his  wife,  Governor  Shadrach 
Bond,  and  William  H.  Brown,  in  after  years  a  leading  citizen  of 
Chicago,  appear  as  witnesses,  and  the  last  entry  in  this  book, 
commenced  in  1741,  is  made  in  1820.  A  smaller  volume  in  the 
same  cover  continues  the  list  of  marriages  to  1835,  ^^d  in  a 
clerkly  hand,  Sidney  Breese,  late  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois,  affixes  his  signature  to  an  entry  made  February 
nth,  1822.     John  Reynolds,  afterwards  Governor  of  Illinois,  is 


KASKASKIA   AND    ITS    rARISlI    RECORDS.  19 

a  witness  in  1824,  and  two  years  later,  Felix  St.  Vrain,  the  Indian 
agent,  murdered  by  the  savages  at  the  outbreak  of  the  J  Mack- 
Hawk  war,  signs  the  record,  and  with  him  Nathaniel  Pope, 
delegate  to  Congress  from  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  and  first 
United  States  Judge  for  the  District  of  Illinois— all  in  the  time 
of  Francois  Xavier  Dahmen,  priest  of  the  Congregation. 

In  a  folio  volume,  imported,  as  it  would  appear,  from  Bordeaux, 
the  Register  of  P'aptisms  is  resumed  in  1759,  and  continued  to 
1 80 1,  and  is  carried  on  in  a  smaller  volume  to  1815.  Une  of  its 
many  curious  entries  is  of  the  baptism  of  "the  son  of  an  infidel 
savage  woman  of  the  Choctaw  tribe,  and  a  savage  man  of  the 
Peorias;"  and  numerous  baptisms  among  negro  slaves  take  place. 

In  a  smaller  book,  the  Burial  Register  begins  again  with  this 
statement,  "The  old  register  of  persons  deceased  in  the  Parish 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Kaskaskias  having  been 
filled,  I  have  continued  to  register  in  the  old  book  of  accounts,  of 
Avhich  a  large  part  was  blank.    The  Register  of  Deaths  commenc- 
ing only  at  this  leaf,  the  8th  day  of  September,  i  764."     Of  the  old 
register,  thus  referred  to,  which  probably  filled  the  gap  from  Dec. 
1 8th,  1727,  to  September  8th,  1764,  no  trace  can  be  discovered, 
and  it  is  probably  destroyed.     One  of  the  first  entries  in  1764,  by 
Father  Meurin,  is  of  the  death  and  burial  of  a  poor  voyageur,  of 
whom  he  says:   "I  know  neither  the  family,  nor  the  parish,  nor 
where  or  when  he  was  born."      Some  years  later,   Father  G.'s 
vault  buries  a  Httle  Illinois  savage  eight  hours  after  baptism;  and 
in   1779,  3.  negro   slave  belonging  to   "Mr.  Le  Colonel   Klark." 
And  the  same  year,  he  performs  the  funeral  service  over  Joseph 
Brayeau,  aged  seventy-eight  years,  slain  the  night  before,  by  the 
savages  on  the  Kaskaskia  River.      He  also  buries  two  little  Illi- 
nois savages,  one  named  P'rancois  and  the  other  Michael,  and, 
shortly  after,  holds  a  solemn  service  for  Charles  Robbin,  native 
of  Canada,  aged  about  thirty-eight  years,  killed  b)-  the  savages, 
at  the  point  of  the  River  of  the  Kaskaskias;  "his  body  was  found 
and  buried  on  an  island  of  the  Mississippi."     He  next  chants  a 
solemn  service  in  memory  of  Joseph  Bineau,  a  young  man  from 
Detroit,  slain  on  the  banks  of  the  Beautiful  Ri^^er  by  the  savages 
with  four  other  Frenchmen  in  the  same  canoe.     And  the  follow- 
ing year,  one  is  sung  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  Jean  De  Noyon, 
slain  by  the  savages  on  the  Beautiful  P>.ivcr,  and  Iniried  on  L'Isle 
aux  Boeufs  "by  all  those  who  belonged  to  the  barge  who  have 
certified  that  they  were  present  at  his  death,  and  at  that  of  Joseph 
la  Fleur,  killed  and  buried  with  him."    It  appears  that  the  Indians 
did  not  always  confine  themselves  to  white  victims,  for  he  records 
the  death  of  one  named  Pierre,  an  Illinois  indian,  killed  by  his 
enemies  along  the  River  of  the  Kaskaskias.     In  1792,  died  Archi- 


20  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

bald  McNabb,  native  of  the  Shire  of  Perth,  in  Scotland,  and  next 
is  mentioned  the  kiUing  of  two  men,  from  the  village  of  Kaskas- 
kia,  who  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  savages  upon  the  River  Cumber- 
land or  Shawanon.  In  1827,  the  death  of  a  slave  of  Mr.  Cain  is 
noted.  Probably  Elias  K.  Kane  is  referred  to,  one  of  the  first 
senators  from  Illinois.  And  we  learn,  at  this  last  date,  that  Kas- 
kaskia  has  ceased  to  be  a  part  of  the  diocese  of  Quebec,  and  now 
belongs  to  that  of  Baltimore. 

We  might  continue  thus  to  cull  from  these  old  records  things 
grave  and  gay,  quaint  and  interesting,  but  the  limits  of  this  paper 
compel  us  to  forbear,  and  we. must  leave  the  greater  part  of  them 
untouched.  It  is  pleasant  to  pour  over  the  brown  pages,  to 
decipher  the  cramped  handwriting,  and  to  imagine  the  long 
succession  of  worthy  priests  making  their  careful  entries,  little 
thinking  that  they  would  ever  be  read  beyond  the  bounds  of 
their  own  parish,  or  be  of  value  to  any  but  the  dwellers  therein, 
but  they  made  them  none  the  less  faithfully.  And  so  these 
parish  records,  intended  simply  to  show  the  births,  marriages, 
and  deaths  among  the  people  of  one  little  village,  for  the  greater 
part  of  its  existence  an  outpost  of  civilization  in  the  heart  of 
the  western  wilderness,  unconsciously  and  so  most  accurately 
reveal  much  of  the  early  history  of  the  region  which  is  now  a 
great  State. 

They  tell  us  of  the  black-robed  missionaries,  who  made  those 
long  and  weary  journeys  to  plant  the  cross  among  the  savages, 
and  toiled  to  spread  their  faith  with  a  zeal  and  devotion  unsur- 
passed; of  the  bold  pioneers,  who,  for  the  sake  of  gain  and 
adventure,  traversed  the  wilds  with  their  lives  in  their  hands  and 
of  their  merciless  foes;  of  the  days  of  wild  speculation,  when  the 
streets  of  Paris  were  full  of  eager  purchasers  of  shares  in  the 
Avonder-working  company  which  was  to  found  an  empire  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  draw  endless  riches  from  the  mines 
to  be  opened  there;  of  the  high-born  officers,  who  sought  dis- 
tinction or  promotion  by  service  in  this  far-away  colony,  and  of 
their  soldiers,  trained  to  war  across  the  sea;  and,  as  we  read, 
plumes  and  banners  wave,  and  sabres  clank,  and  the  red  men  look 
curiously  at  the  musketeers,  and  those  whose  names  are  written 
in  the  pages  of  these  time-worn  books  pass  before  us,  and  the 
old  scenes  come  back  again.  They  give  us  glimpses  too  of  the 
struggle  between  two  mighty  nations  for  the  valley  of  the  Beauti- 
ful River,  and  for  dominion  in  the  New  World,  the  prelude  to 
the  mightier  struggle  in  which  the  victor  in  the  earlier  strife  lost 
its  conquests  and  its  ancient  possessions  as  well;  and  of  the  part 
which  this  early  settlement  played  in  those  contests.  We  see 
the  sceptre  pass  from  one  nation  to  another,  and  when  the  sound 


KASKASKIA   AND    ITS    I'ARISH    RliCORDS.  2  1 

of  war  is  hushed  we  note  the  coming  of  peace,  with  commerce 
and  agriculture  in  its  train.  And,  as  the  tide  of  enterprise 
reaches  the  old  French  village,  we  see  its  temporary  transforma- 
tion into  an  American  town,  and  can  realize  its  astonishment  at 
finding  its  limits  extending,  its  population  doubling,  its  streets 
thronged,  and  itself  the  seat  of  government  of  a  vast  territory 
and  the  first  capital  of  a  State.  And  we  can  appreciate  its  relief 
when  the  wave  recedes  and  the  new  names  disappear,  and  rejoice 
with  it  that  this  episode  is  over,  and  it  is  left  to  its  ancient  ways 
and  its  own  familiar  people,  and  to  a  rest  which  has  since  been 
almost  undisturbed. 

And  hence,  for.  one  who  approaches  it  to-day,  there  is  little  to 
disturb  the  impression  that  it  is  really  the  Kaskaskia  of  the  olden 
time  to  which  he  draws  near.  The  way  still  lies,  as  of  yore, 
through  a  forest,  in  which  stands  the  old  residence  of  Pierre 
Menard,  vacant,  and  fast  going  to  decay,  but  with  its  furniture 
and  books  still  in  place,  as  if  its  occupants  of  long  ago  had  left 
but  yesterday.  It  is  a  type  of  the  village  itself,  once  astir  with 
life,  now  full  of  stillness.  As  you  cross  the  Kaskaskia  River  by 
the  old-fashioned  ferry,  and  are  greeted  by  the  ancient  ferryman, 
the  illusion  is  not  dispelled.  And  the  wide  streets,  unmarked  by 
wheel-tracks;  the  antique  French  houses,  with  their  high  dormer- 
windows;  the  old  brick  buildings,  the  first  erected  of  that  ma- 
terial in  Illinois,  each  with  a  history — this  one  the  earliest  court- 
house in  the  State,  and  that  one  the  old  United  States  land-office 
— built  of  three-inch  bricks,  brought  from  Pittsburg  in  flatboats, 
in  1792;  the  priest's  house,  constructed  of  materials  from  the 
ruins  of  the  nunnery  once  located  there;  and  the  parish  church, 
containing  the  bell  cast  at  Rochelle,  in  France,  in  1741,  for  this 
parish,  the  first  that  rang  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the 
Mississippi — all  give  one  a  mingled  impression  of  antiquity  and 
departed  greatness. 

You  may  dine  at  the  village  tavern,  in  the  same  great  room, 
fully  thirty  feet  square,  in  which  dinner  was  served  to  the  Mar- 
quis de  Lafayette,  in  1825,  when  he  tarried  here  on  his  way  down 
the  Mississippi,  and  note  the  quaint  wood-cafving  of  the  high 
mantlepiece,  and  of  the  mouldings  of  the  doors  and  wmdows,  and 
see  beneath  the  porch  the  heavy ^hewn  timbers  of  which  the  house 
is  built,  justifying  the  tradition  that  it  is  a  century  and  a-c|uarter 
old,  and  was  already  venerable  when  Edward  Coles,  the  second 
Governor  of  Illinois,  made  it  his  residence.  You  may  see  part 
of  the  foundation  of  the  William  Morrison  house,  at  which  a 
reception  was  given  to  Lafayette,  and  the  dilapidated  framework 
of  the  Edgar  mansion,  where  he  was  a  guest.  I  he  .site  ol  tlie 
house  of  the  French  commandant,  which  was  afterwards  the  first 


a 


22  KASKASKIA   AND   ITS    PARISH    RECORDS. 

State  House  of  Illinois,  will  be  pointed  out  to  you,  and  the 
place  where  stood  the  nunnery,  and  such  landmarks  as  the 
corner-stone  of  the  property  of  the  Jesuits  confiscated  by  the 
French  Crown,  and  the  post  of  Cahokia  Gate,  once  giving  pas- 
sage through  the  fence  that  bounded  the  Common  Fields,  which 
are  still  divided  and  held  by  the  old  French  measurement  and 
title.  And  you  will  learn  that  the  little  village,  now  containing 
less  than  three  hundred  souls,  is  the  owner  of  some  eleven 
thousand  acres  of  the  most  fertile  land  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  under  the  grant  to  it  of  Kaskaskia  Commons,  by  his 
Most  Christian  Majesty  Louis  the  XV.,  in  1725,  and  derives 
therefrom  abundant  revenue.  The  older  residents  will  talk  to 
you  of  the  flood  of  1784,  of  which  they  have  heard  their  fathers 
tell;  and  of  Lafayette's  visit,  which  they  remember  as  boys,  when, 
perched  on  the  fence,  they  saw  the  stately  form,  in  foreign  garb, 
pass  into  the  Edgar  mansion,  or  peered  at  him  through  the 
windows  as  he  sat  at  dinner  in  the  large  room  of  the  tavern; 
and  of  the  great  flood  of  1S44,  when  the  water  was  five  feet  deep 
above  the  floors  of  their  houses,  and  large  steamboats  came  up 
the  Kaskaskia  River  and  through  the  streets  of  the  village,  and, 
gathering  the  terror-stricken  inhabitants  from  trees  and  roofs, 
went  straight  away  across  the  Common  Fields  to  the  Mississippi. 
Of  more  modern  events  they  have  little  to  say,  nor  do  the  later 
years  furnish  them  topics  to  take  the  place  of  these. 

The  little  community,  content  to  believe  itself  the  first  perma- 
nent European  settlement  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  sleeps 
on,  dreaming  of  its  early  days  and  of  its  former  importance.  It 
pays  little  heed  to  the  warnings  which  the  mighty  river  has 
already  given  it,  and  is  seemingly  unmindful  that  the  third  and 
last  is  at  hand.  The  distance  from  the  village  centre  to  the 
the  river  bank,  once  three  miles,  has  been  reduced  one-half,  and 
the  rich  farm  lands,  which  once  bordered  the  stream,  have  gone 
in  its  current  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  And  now  the  Mississippi, 
unsatisfied  even  with  this  rapid  destruction,  in  the  very  wanton- 
ness of  its  strength  has  cut  its  way  above  the  town  towards  the 
Kaskaskia  River,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  Government  engineers 
to  check  it,  until  but  a  space  of  three  hundred  yards  separates 
the  two.  The  grave  of  Illinois'  first  Governor  has  been  dis- 
turbed, and  but  recently  his  remains  were  removed  to  a  safer 
resting-place.  And  when  the  junction  is  made,  the  united  rivers 
at  the  next  flood-time  will  spare  nothing  of  the  ancient  village, 
which  meanwhile  listens  idly  to  the  murmur  of  the  approaching 
waters,  and  smiles  in  the  shadow  of  its  impending  doom,  which, 
before  another  spring  has  passed,  may  be  so  complete  that  there 
will  remain  no  memento  of  Kaskaskia  save  its  old  Parish  Records. 


OLD    FORT   CHART  RES. 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  June  16,  1880. 

The  marvellous  growth  of  the  Great  West  obscures  all  relat- 
ing to  it,  save  what  is  of  recent  date.  It  has  a  past  and  a 
history,  but  these  are  hidden  by  the  throng  of  modern  events. 
Few  realize  that  the  territory  of  Illinois,  which  seems  but  yester- 
day to  have  passed  from  the  control  of  the  red  man  to  that  of 
our  Republic,  was  once  claimed  by  Spain,  occupied  by  France, 
and  conquered  by  England.  And  fewer  still,  may  know  that 
within  its  boundaries  vet  remain  the  ruins  of  a  fortress,  in  its 
time  the  most  formidable  in  America,  which  filled  a  large  place 
in  the  operations  of  these  great  powers  in  tiie  valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  Above  the  walls  of  old  Fort  Chartres,  desolate  now. 
and  almost  forgotten,  have  floated,  in  turn,  the  flags  of  two 
mighty  nations,  and  its  story  is  an  epitome  of  their  strife  for 
sovereignty  over  the  New  World. 

The  union  of  Canada,  by  a  line  of  forts,  with  the  region  of  the 
^^^est  and  South,  was  a  favorite  scheme  of  the  French  crown  at 
an  early  day.  It  originated  in  the  active  brain  of  the  great  ex- 
plorer, LaSalle,  whose  communications  to  the  ministers  of  Louis 
XIV.  contain  the  first  suggestions  of  such  a  policy.  These 
military  stations  were  intended  to  be  centres  of  colonization  for 
the  vast  inland  territory,  and  its  protection  against  rival  nations. 
Spain  laid  claim  to  nearly  the  whole  of  North  America,  under 
the  name  of  Florida,  by  the  right  of  first  discover}--,  and  by  virtue 
of  a  grant  from  the  Pope,  who  disposed  of  a  continent— which 
he  did  not  own — with  reckless  liberality.  Fr.Ynce  relied  on  the 
possession  taken  by  LaSalle  for  her  title  to  the  Mississippi  \'alley.: 
and  a  long  altercation  ensued.  The  ordinary  state  of  feeling 
between  their  officers  may  be  inferred  from  a  correspondence 
which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Bernard  de  la  Harpe  established  a  French  post  on  the 
Red  River,  and  this  aroused  the  ire  of  Don  Martin  de  la  Come, 
the  nearest  Spanish  commandant.  Writes  the  Spaniard :  "  I  am 
compelled    to    sav    that    your   arrival    surprises    me   very  mucli. 


24  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

Your  governor  could  not  be  ignorant  that  the  post  you  occupy- 
belongs  to  my  government.  I  counsel  you  to  give  advice  of  this 
to  him,  or  you  will  force  me  to  oblige  you  to  abandon  lands  that 
the  French  have  no  right  to  occupy.  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Sir,  &c.,  De  la  Come.''  To  him  replies  the  courteous  French- 
man: "Permit  me  to  inform  you  that  M.  de  Bienville  is  perfectly 
informed  of  the  limits  of  his  government,  and  is  very  certain  that 
this  post  depends  not  upon  the  dominions  of  his  catholic  majesty. 
If  you  will  do  me  the  favor  to  come  into  this  quarter,  I  will  con- 
vince you  I  hold  a  post  I  know  how  to  defend.  I  have  the  honor 
to  be.  Sir,  &c.,  De  la  Harpe." 

Here  and  elsewhere,  the  French  held  their  own,  and  continued 
to  occupy  the  disputed  territory.  In  the  Illinois  country,  the 
mission  villages  of  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia  sprang  up  and  throve 
apace.  From  the  latter  place,  as  early  as  17 15,  the  good  father 
Mermet  reported  to  the  Governor  of  Canada  that  the  encroach- 
ing English  were  building  forts  near  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi. 
So  the  shadow  of  the  coming  power  of  her  old  enemy  was  cast 
athwart  the  path  of  France  in  the  Western  wilderness,  while  Spain 
watched  her  progress  there  with  a  jealous  eye.  And  the  need  of 
guarding  the  Illinois  settlements  became  more  manifest  v.'hen  the 
discovery  of  valuable  mines  in  that  locality  was  announced. 
Such  rumors  often  repeated,  and  the  actual  smelting  of  lead  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  had  their  effect  in  the  Mother 
Country.  And  when  the  grant  of  the  province  of  Louisiana  to 
the  merchant  Crozat,  was  surrendered,  in  17 17,  John  Law's 
famous  Company  of  the  West,  afterward  absorbed  in  that  of  the 
Indies,  was  ready  to  become  his  successor,  and  to  dazzle  the 
multitude  with  the  glittering  lure  of  the  gold  and  silver  of 
Illinois.  The  representatives  of  this  great  corporation,  in  unison 
with  those  of  the  French  crown,  recognizing  the  many  reasons 
for  a  military  post  in  that  far-away  region,  made  haste  to  found 
it;  and  thus  Fort  Chartres  arose.  It  was  established  as  a  link 
in  the  great  chain  of  strongholds,  which  was  to  stretch  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf,  realizing  the  dream  of  LaSalle;  a  bul- 
wark against  Spain  and  a  barrier  to  England;  a  protector  of  the 
infant  colony,  and  of  the  church  which  planted  it ;  a  centre  for 
trade,  and  for  the  operation  of  the  far-famed  mines;  and  as  the 
chief  seat  in  the  New  World  of  the  Royal  Company  of  the 
Indies,  which  wove  a  spell  so  potent  that  its  victims  saw,  in  the 
near  future,  crowded  cities  all  along  the  course  of  the  Mississippi,, 
and  stately  argosies  afloat  upon  its  waters,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago. 

On   the  9th  of  February,   17 18,  there  arrived  at  Mobile,  by 


OLD   FORT   CIIARTRES.  25 

ship,  from  France,  Pierre  Duque  Boisbriant,  a  Canadian  gc-ntle- 
man,  with  the  commission  of  Commandant  at  the  Illinois.  He- 
was  a  cousin  of  Bienville,  then  (Governor  of  Louisiana,  and  had 
already  served  under  him  in  that  province.  In  October,  of  the 
same  year,  accompanied  by  several  officers  and  a  detachment  of 
troops,  he  departed  for  the  Illinois  country,  where  he  was  ordered 
to  construct  a  fort.  The  little  t^otilla,  stemming  the  swift  current 
of  the  Mississippi,  moved  slowly  on  its  way,  encountering  no 
enemies  more  troublesome  than  "the  mosquitoes,  which,"'  says 
the  worthy  priest  Poisson,  who  took  the  same  journey  .shortly 
after,  "have  caused  more  swearing  since  the  French  have  been 
here,  than  had  previously  taken  place  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
world."  Late  in  the  year,  Boisbriant  reached  Kaskaskia,  and 
selected  a  site  for  his  post  sixteen  miles  above  that  vilage,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  Merrily  rang  the  axes  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  forest  by  the  mighty  river,  as  they  hewed  out  the 
ponderous  timbers  for  palisade  and  bastion.  And  by  degrees 
the  walls  arose,  and  the  barracks  and  commandant's  house,  and 
the  store-house  and  great  hall  of  the  India  Company  were  built, 
and  the  cannon,  bearing  the  insignia  of  Louis  XJV.,  were  [)laced 
in  position.  In  the  spring  of  1720,  all  was  finished,  the  banner 
of  France  was  given  to  the  breeze,  and  the  work  was  named 
Fort  Chartres.  An  early  governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  who 
wrote  its  pioneer  history,  has  gravely  stated  that  this  Fort  was 
so  called,  because  it  had  a  charter  from  the  crown  of  France  for 
its  erection.  But  it  is  feared  that  the  same  wag  who  persuaded 
an  Illinois  legislature  to  name  the  second  capital  of  the  State, 
Vandalia,  by  reason  of  the  alleged  traces  of  a  tribe  of  Indians 
named  the  Vandals  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  site,  also  victim- 
ized a  governor.  We  can  hardly  accept  his  derivation,  when  it 
seems  so  much  more  probable  that  the  name  was  taken,  by  way 
of  compliment  to  the  then  Regent,  from  the  title  of  his  son,  the 
Due  de  Chartres,  for  whom,  about  this  time,  streets  were  named 
in  New  Orleans  and  Kaskaskia,  which  are  still  thus  designated. 

The  first  important  arrival  at  the  new  post  \yis  that  of  Philip 
Francis  Renault,  formerly  a  banker  in  Paris,  the  director-general 
of  the  mines  of  the  India  Company,  who  reached  Fort  Chartres 
before  its  completion,  and  made  his  headquarters  there.  He 
brought  with  him  250  miners  and  soldiers,  and  also  a  large 
number  of  slaves  from  St.  Domingo.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
negro  slavery  in  Illinois.  The  practice  of  enslaving  Indian 
captives  was  already  in  vogue,  but  from  this  time  on,  the  records 
of  the  French  settlements  there,  speak  of  both  black  slaves,  and 
red  slaves.     The  Fort  was  finished  not  at  all   too  soon.      I  he 


26  OLD    FORT    CHARTRES. 

tardy  Spaniards  had  at  last  decided  to  strike  a  blow  at  their 
neighbor  on  the  Mississippi,  and  Boisbriant  hardly  had  everything 
in  readiness,  when  news  reached  him  of  the  march  of  a  force 
from  Mexico  against  his  stronghold.  But  this  invasion  was 
repelled  by  the  natives  on  the  route,  and  all  concerned  in  it 
slain,  except  the  chaplain  of  the  expedition,  who  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Pawnees.  He  finally  escaped  in  a  dexterous 
manner.  While  delighting  the  Indians  with  feats  of  horseman- 
ship, he  gradually  withdrew  to  a  distance,  and  described  a  final 
elaborate  figure  which  had  no  return  curve.  Two  Indian  chiefs, 
who  displayed,  as  trophies,  a  Catalonian  pistol  and  a  pair  of 
Spanish  shoes,  gave  this  account  to  Father  Charlevoix,  at  Green 
Bay. 

This  pleasant  old  traveler  was  then  making  the  journey  through 
North  America,  of  which  he  has  left  such  a  charming  account. 
On  the  9th  of  October,  1721,  he  passed  Fort  Chartres,  which 
stood  a  musket-shot  from  the  river,  as  he  tells  us,  and  he  further 
says,  "M.  Duque'  de  Boisbriant  commands  here  for  the  Company 
to  whom  the  place  belongs.  The  French  are  now  beginning  to 
settle  the  country  between  this  Fort  and  Kaskaskia.''  The  leader 
of  Charlevoix'  escort  was  a  young  Canadian  officer,  Jean  St. 
Ange  de  Belle  Rive,  destined  in  later  years  to  have  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  Fort  Chartres  than  this  passing  glimpse  of  its 
newly-built  walls  and  structures  afforded  him.  He  hardly  antici- 
pated then  that  to  him  would  come  the  honor  of  commanding 
it,  and  that  on  him,  almost  half  a  century  later,  would  fall  the 
sad  duty  of  finally  lowering  there  his  country's  flag,  which  waved 
so  proudly  above  it  on  that  autumn  morning. 

No  sooner  was  the  Fort  erected,  than  a  village  began  to  grow 
up  at  its  gates,  in  which  the  watchful  Jesuits  forthwith  established 
the  parish  of  Sainte  Anne  de  Fort  Chartres.  All  that  remains  of 
the  records  of  this  parish,  is  in  the  writer's  possession.  They 
begin  with  an  ancient  document,  tattered  and  worn,  written  in 
Quebec,  in  the  year  17 16.  It  is  a  copy  of  a  curious  decree  of 
Louis  XV.,  promulgated  in  the  same  year,  which  seems  to  be 
something  in  the  nature  of  a  manual  of  church  etiquette.  Recit- 
ing that  his  majesty  has  considered  all  the  ordinances  on  the 
subject  of  honors  in  the  churches  of  New  France,  and  wishes  to 
put  an  end  to  all  the  contests  on  the  subject,  it  proceeds  to 
regulate  the  whole  matter.  Twelve  articles  provide  that  the 
governor-general  and  the  intendant  shall  each  have  a  prie  Dieu 
in  the  cathedrals  of  Quebec  and  Montreal,  the  governor-general 
on  the  right,  the  intendant  on  the  left;  the  commander  of  the 
troops  shall  have  a  seat  behind  the  governor-general;  in  church- 


OLD    FORT    CHARTRKS.  2/ 

processions,  the  governor-general  shall  march  at  the  head  of  the 
council,  his  guards  in  front,  the  intendant  to  the  left  and  behind 
the  council,  and  the  chief  notary,  first  usher,  and  captain  of  the 
guard,  with  the  governor-general,  yet  behind  him,  but  not  on  the 
same  line  with  the  council;  and  similar  minute  directions  cover 
all  contingencies.  In  all  other  churches  of  New  France,  the  same 
rules  of  precedence  are  to  be  observed  according  to  the  rank  of 
those  in  attendance.  Doubtless,  copies  of  this  important  decree 
were  kept  in  readiness,  that  one  might  be  furnished  to  each  new 
church  at  its  establishment.  And  probably  the  one  from 
which  we  quote  was  sent  from  Quebec  to  Ste.  Anne  of  Fort 
Chartres  some  time  in  1721,  the  year  in  which  the  first  entries 
seem  to  have  been  made  in  the  parish  registers.  We  may  pre- 
sume that  Boisbriant  followed  its  instructions  strictly,  and  took 
care  to  be  on  the  right  hand  in  the  church,  and  also  that  the 
intendant  or  civil  officer  should  be  on  the  left.  That  position 
was  filled  by  Marc  Antoine  de  la  Loire  des  Ursins,  princiijal 
director  for  the  Company  of  the  Indies.  These  two,  together 
with  Michel  Chassin,  commissary  for  the  Company,  formed  the 
Provincial  Council  of  the  Illinois,  and  speedily  made  Fort 
Chartres  the  centre  of  the  civil  government  of  the  colony.  To 
this  council  applications  for  land  were  made,  and  its  members 
executed  the  grants  upon  which  many  titles  rest  to  this  day. 
Boisbriant,  doubtless  believing  that  he  that  provideth  not  for  his 
own  household  is  worse  than  an  infidel,  had  a  large  tract  con- 
veyed to  himself,  beginning  at  the  little  hill  behind  the  Fort.  He 
and  his  associates  dispensed  justice,  regulated  titles,  and  ad- 
ministered estates,  and,  in  fact,  established  the  court,  which, 
for  more  than  forty  years,  decided  the  causes  which  arose  in  the 
Illinois  country,  according  to  the  civil  law.  Their  largest  land 
grant  was  made  in  1723,  to  M.  Renault,  and  comprised  a  tract 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  another,  fifteen  leagues  square,  near  the 
site  of  Peoria,  and  another  above  Fort  Chartres,  one  league  along 
the  river  and  two  leagues  deep,  the  latter  to  raise  provisions  for 
his  settlements  among  the  mines.  Of  this  last  tl'act,  a  large  part 
was  never  sold  by  Renault,  and  to  this  day  the  unconveyed 
portion  is  marked  upon  the  maps  of  Monroe  County,  111.,  as  the 
property  of  the  Philip  Renault  heirs. 

About  this  time  word  came  to  the  F^ort  that  the  faithful  allies 
of  the  French,  the  Illinois  Indians,  who  dwelt  about  Peoria  Fake, 
and  the  Rock  of  St.  Louis,  now  called  Starved  Rock,  were  hard 
pressed  by  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Foxes.  Boisbriant  sent  a 
force  to  their  relief  which  arrived  at  the  close  of  a  contest,  m 
which  the   Foxes  were  defeated,  but  so  greatly  had  the  Illinois 


28  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

sufifered  that  they  returned  with  the  French  to  the  shelter  of  the 
Fort,  leaving  the  route  to  the  settlements  from  the  north  unpro- 
tected. In  the  year  1725,  Bienville,  the  Governor  of  Louisiana, 
was  summoned  to  France,  and  Commandant  Boisbriant  became 
acting  Governor  in  his  stead,  with  headquarters  at  New  Orleans. 
His  old  position  was  filled  by  M.  De  Siette,  a  captain  in  the 
royal  army.  In  the  parish  register  in  his  administration,  appears 
the  baptism  of  a  female  savage  of  the  Padoucah  nation,  by  the 
chaplain  at  the  Fort,  who  records  with  great  satisfaction  that  he 
performed  the  ceremony,  and  gave  her  the  name  of  Therese,  but 
does  not  say  whether  she  consented,  or  what  she  thought  about 
it.  She  apparently  paid  a  casual  visit  to  the  Fort,  and  he  bap- 
tized her  at  a  venture,  and  made  haste  to  write  down  another 
convert.  The  Fox  Indians  were  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  De  Siette. 
The  way  by  the  Illinois  River  was  now  open  to  them,  and  their 
war  parties  swooped  upon  the  settlers,  murdering  them  in  their 
fields,  even  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Fort.  In  great  wrath,  De 
Siette  opened  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  with  De  Lignerie, 
the  French  commandant  at  Green  Bay,  and  proposed  that  the 
Fox  tribe  should  be  exterminated  at  once.  The  calmer  De 
Lignerie,  replies  in  substance  that  this  would  be  the  best  possible 
expedient,  provided  the  Foxes  do  not  exterminate  them  in  the 
attempt.  And  he  suggests  a  postponement  of  hostilities  until 
De  Siette  and  himself  could  meet  ''''at  Chickagau  or  the  Rock,"  and 
better  concert  their  plans.  But  soon  the  French  authorities 
adoped  the  views  of  the  commandant  at  the  Illinois,  and  the 
Marquis  de  Beauharnois,  grandfather  of  the  first  husband  of  the 
Empress  Josephine,  then  commanding  in  Canada,  notified  him  to 
join  the  Canadian  forces  at  Green  Bay,  in  1728,  to  make  war 
upon  the  Foxes.  A  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Illinois  Indians, 
headed  by  the  French,  were  victorious.  But  hostilities  continued 
until  De  Siette's  successor,  by  a  masterly  piece  of  strategy,  way- 
laid and  destroyed  so  many  of  the  persistent  foemen,  that  peace 
reigned  for  a  time. 

This  officer,  M.  de  St.  Ange  de  Belle  Rive,  Avho,  as  we  have 
seen,  first  visited  the  Illinois  country  with  Father  Charlevoix,  had 
since  been  stationed  there,  and  made  it  his  home,  for  the  ancient 
title  records  of  this  region  show  that  in  1729  he  purchased  a 
house  in  the  prairie  bounding  on  one  side  the  road  leading  to 
Fort  Chartres.  And  in  an  old  package  of  stained  and  moulder- 
ing papers,  but  lately  disinterred  from  the  dust  of  at  least  one 
century,  is  the  original  petition  addressed  by  St.  Ange  to  the 
])roper  authorities  for  the  confirmation  of  his  title  to  certain  land, 
not  far  from  the  Fort,  acquired  "from  a  savage  named  Chicago, 


OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 


2y 


who  is  contented  and  satisfied  with  the  payment  made  to  liini." 
During  his  term  of   office,  in   1732,  the  Koyiil   Iniha  Company 
surrendered  its  charter  to  the  crown,  which  thenceforward  had  the 
exchisive  government  of   the  country.     A  few  years  before,  the 
French  warfare  with  the  Natchez   Indians,  that  strange  tribe  of 
sun-worshippers,  probably  of  the  Aztec  race,  had  resulted  in  the 
dispersion  of  the  natives,  some  of  whom  joined  the  Chickasaws, 
who,   under    English    influence,    kept    up    the    strife.      A    young 
officer,  Pierre   D'Artaguiette,  distinguished  himself  so  greatly  in 
the  Natchez  war,  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  Illinois  district, 
in   1734,  taking  the  place  of  St.   Ange,  who  was  transferred  to 
another  post.     The  new  commander  was  a  younger  brother  of 
Diron  D'Artaguiette,  a  man  very  prominent  in  the  early  history  of 
Louisiana,  and  his  family  connections,  his  services  and  virtues, 
his    brilliant    career   and   untimely    death,  have   surrounded    his 
name  with   a   halo  of  romance.      With   pride   and    pleasure,  he 
received   his   promotion   to   the   rank  of  major,  and    his   orders 
to   take   command   at   Fort   Chartres.     For  two   years   he   ruled 
his   province   well,   and    then    the   summons    to    the    field    came 
to  him  again.      Bienville   had   resumed   the  (iovernorshij)  and 
resolved    to    crush     the    Chickasaws.      In    preparation    for    the 
campaign  he  strengthened  all  the  posts,  that  they  might  better 
spare  a  part  of  their  garrisons  for  active  work.     De  Coulanges, 
an  officer  sent  to  Fort  Chartres  with  a  supply  of  ammunition, 
disobeyed  orders,  transporting  merchandise  instead,  leaving  the 
powder  at  the  Arkansas.     A  party  of  D'Artaguiette's  men  going 
after  it,  was  routed   by   the  Chickasaws.     "For  this,"   Bienville 
says,   "I  have  ordered  D'Artaguiette  to  imprison  De  Coulanges 
for   six   months    in    Fort    Chartres.      I    hope    this  _  examjile    will 
moderate  the  avidity  for  gain  of  some  of  our  officers. "     \\'hen 
everything  was  in  readiness,   D'Artaguiette  set  forth  from  Fort 
Chartres  with  all  his  force,  on  a  morning  in  February,  makmg  a 
brave  show  as  the  fleet  of  bateaux  and  canoes  floated  down  the 
Mississippi.     This  first  invasion  of  Southern  soil  by  soldiers  from 
Illinois,  comprised  nearly  all  of  the  garrison  of^the  Fort,  a  com- 
pany of  volunteers  from  the  French  villages,  almost  the  whole  of 
the  Kaskaskia  tribe,  and  a  throng  of   Indian  warriors  who  had 
flocked  to  the  standard  even  from  the  far  away  Detroit.     Chicago 
led  the  Illinois  and  the  Miamis,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  ( )hio. 
the  Chevalier  Vinsenne  joined  the  expedition,  with  the  garrison 
from  the  post  on  the  Wabash,  and  a  number  of  Indians,  including 
a  party  of  Iroquois  braves.     Landing,  and  marching  inland,  they 
reached  the  Chickasaw  villages  at  the  appointed  time,  but   the 
troops  from  New  Orleans,  who  were  to  meet  them  there,  failed  to 


30  OLD    FORT   CHARTRES. 

appear.  Compelled  to  fight  or  retreat,  D'Artaguiette  chose  the 
former,  and  was  at  first  successful,  but  the  tide  turned,  when  he 
fell,  covered  with  wounds.  De  Coulanges,  released  from  durance 
that  he  might  redeem  his  fame,  and  many  other  officers,  were 
slain,  most  of  the  Indians  fled,  and  D'Artaguiette,  Vinsenne,  the 
Jesuit  Senat,  and  young  St.  Ange,  son  of  the  Illinois  command- 
ant, were  taken  prisoners  by  the  unconquered  Chickasaws,  who 
burned  them  at  the  stake,  and  triumphantly  marched  to  the 
Georgia  coast  to  tell  their  English  allies  there  of  the  French 
defeat.  The  broken  remnants  of  the  little  army,  under  the 
leadership  of  a  boy  of  sixteen,  pursued  by  the  savages  for  five 
and  twenty  leagues,  regained  the  river,  and  slowly  and  sadly 
returned  to  the  Fort.  On  the  sorrow  caused  there  by  the 
mournful  news,  the  masses  that  were  said  in  the  little  church  for 
the  repose  of  the  souls  of  the  slain,  and  the  deep  grief  felt 
throughout  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  in  cabin  and  wigwam  alike, 
we  will  not  dwell.  The  impression  made  by  the  life  and  death 
of  D'Artaguiette  was  so  abiding,  that  his  name  remained  a 
household  word  among  the  French  for  years;  and  well  into  the 
present  century,  the  fivorite  song  among  the  negroes  along  the 
Mississippi  was  one,  of  which  the  oft -repeated  chorus  ran, 

"In  the  days  of  D'Artaguiette,  Ho!  Ho! 
In  the  days  of  D'Artaguiette,  O  ho!" 

Three  years  later,  La  Buissoniere,  who  succeeded  him,  led  an 
expedition  from  Fort  Chartres,  composed  of  Frenchmen  and 
natives,  to  take  part  in  another  campaign  against  the  dauntless 
Chickasaws.  Soldiers  from  Quebec  and  Montreal,  with  recruits 
from  all  the  tribes  along  their  route,  overtook  him  on  the  way, 
and  the  Northern  forces  joined  the  troops  under  Bienville, 
newly  reinforced  from  Paris,  near  the  site  of  the  city  of  Memphis. 
The  dominions  of  the  King  of  France,  in  the  Old  World  and  the 
New,  were  laid  under  contribution  to  concentrate  this  army  at  the 
rendezvous,  but  not  a  blow  was  struck.  White  and  red  men 
lay  in  camp  for  months,  apparently  unwilling  to  risk  an  encounter, 
and  at  length  a  dubious  peace  was  arranged,  and  all  marched 
home  again,  without  loss  or  glory.  Hardly  had  the  Fort-Chartres 
detachment  returned,  when  a  boat,  going  from  New  Orleans  to 
the  Illinois,  was  attacked  by  the  Chickasaws,  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio,  and  all  on  board  were  killed,  save  one  young  girl.  She 
had  recently  arrived  from  France,  and  was  on  her  way  to  join 
her  sister,  the  wife  of  an  officer  at  the  Fort.  Escaping  by  a 
miracle  to  the  shore,  she  wandered  through  the  woods  for  days, 
living  on  herbs,  until  sore  spent  and  ready  to  die,  she  chanced  to 


DIJ)    FORT   CHARTRKS. 


31 


reach  an  elevation  from  which  she  caught  a  glimpse  of  iIk-  Hag 
floating  over  Fort  Chartres,  and,  with  new  iiojjc  and  strcngtli, 
struggled  onward,  and  came  safely  to  the  friends  who  had 
mourned  for  her  as  dead. 

Among  the  few  original  documents  relating  to  this  period 
which  are  still  preserved,  is  a  deed  executed  at  Fort  Chartres  hy 
Alphonse  de  la  Buissonie're,  commandant  at  the  Illinois,  and 
Madame  Theresa  Trudeau,  'his  wife.  During  his  govern<jrshi|) 
were  the  halcyon  days  of  the  French  settlers  at  the  Illinois.  'I'lie 
Indians  were  kept  in  check,  the  fertile  soil  yielded  bounteous 
harvests,  two  convoys  laden  with  grain  and  provisions,  went  each 
year  to  New  Orleans,  and  Lower  Louisiana  became  almost  entirely 
dependent  upon  them  for  supplies.  Other  villages  had  grown  up 
near  the  Fort.  Prairie  du  Rocher,  five  miles  away,  was  situated 
upon  a  grant  made  by  the  India  Company  to  Boisbriant,  and  by 
him  transferred  to  his  nephew,  l>anglois,  who  conveyed  it  by 
parcels  to  the  settlers,  reserving  to  hinfself  certain  seigneurial 
rights  according  to  the  customs  of  Paris.  And  Renault,  on  a 
portion  of  his  grant  above  the  Fort,  established  the  village  of 
St.  Philip,  which  became  a  thriving  place.  These  were  laid  out 
after  the  French  manner,  with  Commons  and  Common  Fields, 
still  marked  upon  the  local  maps,  and  in  some  cases  held  and 
used  to  this  day  under  the  provisions  of  these  early  grants.  In 
each  of  the  villages  was  a  chapel,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
parent  church  of  Ste.  Anne  of  Fort  Chartres.  To  the  colony 
came  scions  of  noble  families  of  France,  seeking  fame  and  adven- 
ture in  that  distant  land,  and  their  names  and  titles  appear  at 
length  in  the  old  records  and  parish  registers.  Among  them  was 
Benoist  St.  Claire,  captain  of  a  com])any  detached  from  the 
marine  service,  who  followed  La  Buissonie're  in  the  chief  com- 
mand, and  held  it  for  a  year  or  more.  He  found  little  to  do  in 
those  piping  times  of  peace,  made  an  occasional  grant  of  land, 
and  sought  other  service  early  in  1742. 

The  Chevalier  de  Bertel,  who  describes  himself  as  Major  Com- 
manding for  the  King,  took  charge  in  his  spead.  The  parish 
register  of  Ste.  Anne,  in  his  time,  is  extant,  and  the  title-jjage  of 
the  volume,  then  newly  opened,  bears  the  following  inscrij)lion: 
"Numbered  and  initialed  by  us,  Principal  Secretary  of  the  Mannc 
and  Civil  Judge  at  the  Illinoi.s,  the  present  book,  contanniig 
seventy-four  leaves,  to  serve  as  a  Register  of  the  Parish  ol  St. 
Anne,  of  Baptisms,  Marriages,  and  Deaths.  Done  at  I-ort 
Chartres  the  first  of  August,  1743- 

"Chevalier  de  Bertel,  De  la  Loire, 

Major  Commandant.  Flancour. 


32  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

The  pages  which  remain,  by  their  careful  numbering  and  joint 
initials,  show  how  important  it  was  deemed  to  preserve  and 
identify  this  register.  It  was  soon  to  contain  the  record  of  the 
sudden  death  of  Flancour  himself,  the  Civil  Judge  at  the  Illinois. 
One  of  his  last  acts  was  to  grant  to  the  village  of  Prairie  du 
Rocher,  a  tract  of  land  for  Commons,  from  which  it  now  derives 
a  revenue.  And  with  Bertel  he  executed  a  deed  to  a  young  man 
at  St.  Philip,  for  the  reason  that  he  was  the  first  one  born  in 
Illinois  to  marry  and  settle  himself  And  to  another,  who  asked 
the  gift  of  a  farm,  because  he  had  seven  children,  they  granted  a 
tract  of  land  for  each  child.  Renault  made  his  last  conveyance 
of  a  lot  at  St.  Philip  by  deed,  executed  in  his  rooms  at  Fort 
Chartres,  September  2d,  1740,  and,  three  years  later,  returned  to 
Paris,  after  a  residence  in  the  Illinois  country  of  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  In  the  same  season.  Governor  Bienville  went  to 
France,  finally  resigning  his  trust  to  the  Marquis  de  Vandreuil. 
And  here  a  word  may'  be  spoken  of  the  first  royal  governor  of 
the  province,  of  which  Illinois  was  a  part,  and  in  whose  admin- 
istration Fort  Chartres  w^as  constructed.  Le  Moyne  de  Bienville, 
a  Canadian  l)orn,  was  one  of  an  illustrious  family.  His  father 
was  killed  in  battle  in  the  service  of  his  country,  seven  of  his 
brothers  died  naval  officers,  and  of  the  three  others,  then  surviv- 
ing, one  was  Governor  of  Montreal,  one  captain  of  a  ship  of  the 
line,  and  one  a  naval  ensign.  He  distinguished  himself  at  the 
capture  of  Port  Nelson  from  the  English,  and  in  a  brilliant  naval 
engagement  in  Hudson's  Bay;  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
Louisiana;  and  chose  the  site  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  He 
served  as  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Governor  of  the  Province  for 
nearly  forty  years,  and  won  the  reputation  of  being  the  bravest 
and  best  man  in  the  colony.  His  portrait,  which  adorns  the 
mansion,  at  Longueil,  in  Canada,  of  Baron  Grant,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  family,  shows  a  martial  figure,  and  a  noble  face, 
in  keeping  with  his  record;  and  his  intimate  connection  with  its 
early  history  would  make  it  fitting  to  preserve  a  copy  of  this 
original  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

The  Chevalier  de  Bertel  had  a  diftrcult  part  to  play.  France 
and  England  were  at  war,  because  Frederick  the  Great  and  Marie 
Theresa  could  not  agree,  and  this  disturbed  the  settlements  at 
the  Illinois.  Some  Englishmen,  found  on  the  Mississippi,  were 
arrested  as  spies,  and  confined  in  the  dungeon  as  Fort  Chartres, 
and  whispers  of  an  English  attack  were  in  the  air.  The  Fort  was 
out  of  repair,  and  poorly  supplied,  and  a  number  of  its  soldiers, 
tiring  of  the  confinement  of  the  garrison,  deserted,  to  try  the  free 
life  of  the  woods  and  prairies.     The  old-time  Indian  allies  were 


OLD    FORT   CHAKTKKS.  j.3 

won  over  by  the  Eritish,  and  agreed  to  destroy  the  French  post 
during  the  moon  of  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  but  they  were  thwarted 
by  the  skill  and  address  of  De  Bertel.  Many  anxious  thoughts  he 
had  as  he  paced  the  enclosure  of  Fort  Chartres,  and  many  an 
earnest  episde  he  addressed  to  his  superior  officers,  assuring  them 
that  it  was  only  by  great  good  fortune  that  lie  could  hold  his 
post,  which  must  be  reenforced  and  strengthened.  The  aban- 
donment of  the  Fort  was  at  one  time  contemijlated.  This  plan, 
however,  was  given  up  when  the  Marquis  de  Galissoniere,  Gov.'- 
General  of  Canada,  presented  a  memorial  on  the  subject  to  the 
home  government.  He  says,  "The  little  colony  of  Illinois  ought 
not  to  be  left  to  perish.  The  King  must  sacrifice  for  its  support. 
The  principal  advantage  of  the  country  is  its  extreme  productive- 
ness, and  its  connection  with  Canada  and  Louisiana  must  be 
maintained.''  The  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  came  in  time  to 
gi\-e  both  parties  a  breathing  space,  in  which  to  pre|)are  for  the 
sterner  contest,  soon  to  follow.  Chevalier  de  Bertel,  knowing 
that  his  wise  counsels  had  borne  fruit,  transferred  the  command 
again  to  Benoist  St.  Clair,  who  signalized  his  return  by  wedding 
the  daughter  of  a  citizen  of  Kaskaskia,  in  January,  1750.  The 
same  year,  De  Gahssoniere  once  more  urged  upon  the  King  the 
importance  of  preserving  and  strengthening  the  post  at  the 
Illinois,  describing  the  country  as  open  and  ready  for  the  plough, 
and  traversed  by  an  innumerable  multitude  of  buffaloes.  "And 
these  animals,"  he  says,  "are  covered  with  a  species  of  wool, 
sufficiently  fine  to  be  employed  in  various  manufactories!"  And 
he  further  suggests,  and,  doubtless,  correctly,  that  "the  buffalo,  if 
caught,  and  attached  to  the  plow,  would  move  it  at  a  speed 
superior  to  that  of  the  domestic  ox!" 

In  the  succeeding  autumn,  the  Chevalier  de  Makarty,"'^  a  major 
of  engineers,  with  a  few  companies  of  troops,  arrived  from 
France,  under  orders  to  rebuild  the  citadel  of  the  Illinois 
country.  Other  detachments  followed,  until  nearly  a  full  regiment 
of  French  grenadiers  answered  to  the  roll-call  at  Fort  Chartres. 
They  toiled  busily  to  transform  it  from  a  fortress:  of  wood  to  one 
of  stone,  under  the  skilful  guidance  of  the  trained  officer,  whose 
Irish  blood,  as  well  as  his  French  commission,  made  hostile  pre- 
parations against  Britain,  a  labor  of  love  to  him.  Vou  may  see, 
to  this  day,  the  place  in  the  bluffs  to  the  eastward  of  the  Fort, 
where  they  quarried  the  huge  blocks,  which  they  carried  in  boats 

*  This  is  the  same  officer  whose  name  is  spelled  Macarty  in  the  Parish  Kcc- 
ords  of  Kaskaskia.     The  discovery  of  the  records  of  the  church  of  .^t.  .\nne  ol 
Fort  Chartres,  containing   his  name,  written  by  himself,  shows  the  proper 
spelling  to  be  Makarty. 
3 


3-4  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

across  the  little  lake  lying  between.  The  finer  stone,  with  which 
the  gateways  and  buildings  were  faced,  were  brought  from  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  A  million  of  crowns  seemed  to  the  King  of 
France  but  a  reasonable  expense  for  this  work  of  reconstruction, 
which  was  to  secure  his  empire  in  the  West.  And  hardly  was  it 
completed  when  the  contest  began,  and  the  garrison  of  Fort 
Chartres  had  a  hand  in  the  opening  struggle.  In  May,  1754, 
the  young  George  Washington,  with  his  Virginia  riflemen,  sur- 
prised the  party  of  Jumonville  at  the  Great  Meadows,  and  slew 
the  French  leader.  His  brother,  Neyon  de  Villiers,  one  of  the 
captains  at  Fort  Chartres,  obtained  leave  from  Makarty  to 
avenge  him,  and  with  his  company,  went  by  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Ohio,  to  Fort  du  Quesne,  where  he  joined  the  head  of  the 
family,  Coulon  de  Villiers,  who  was  marching  on  the  same  errand. 
Together,  with  "a  force  as  numerous,"  said  the  Indians,  "as  the 
pigeons  in  the  woods,"  they  brought  to  bay  "Monsieur  de  Wac- 
henston,"  as  the  French  despatches  call  him,  at  Fort  Necessity, 
which  he  surrendered  on  the  4th  of  July.  The  capture  of  this 
place  by  the  French,  is  one  of  the  causes  assigned  by  George  the 
Second,  for  the  declaration  of  hostilities  by  Britain;  and  thus 
the  Old  French  War  began.  The  little  detachment,  with  its  bold 
leader,  returned,  flushed  with  victory,  to  celebrate,  at  Fort 
Chartres,  the  triumph  of  Illinois  over  Virginia.  Soon  the 
demands  upon  this  post  for  supplies  and  men  grew  constant,  and 
the  veteran  Makarty  labored  steadily  to  keep  pace  with  them. 
The  commandant  at  Fort  du  Quesne,  whose  communications 
with  Canada  were  interrupted  by  the  British,  writes  him:  "We 
are  in  sad  want  of  provisions.  I  send  to  you  for  flour  and  pork." 
The  Governor-General  of  Canada,  in  an  epistle  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine,  observes:  "I  knew  the  route  from  the  Illinois  was  as 
fine  as  could  be  desired.  Chevalier  de  Villiers,  who  commands 
the  escort  of  provisions  from  there,  came  up  with  a  bateaux  of 
18,000  weight.  This  makes  known  a  sure  communication  with 
the  Illinois  whence  I  can  derive  succor  in  provisions  and  men." 
Nor  did  our  garrison  confine  itself  to  commissary  work.  The 
tireless  De  Villiers,  hardly  resting  from  his  escort  duty,  crossed 
the  Alleghanies  with  his  men,  and  captured  Fort  Granville,  on 
the  Juniata.  The  Marquis  de  Montcalm,  writing  to  the  Minister 
of  War,  thus  pleasantly  alludes  to  this  little  attention  paid  by 
Illinois  to  Pennsylvania:  "The  news  from  the  Beautiful  River  is 
excellent.  We  continue  to  devastate  Pennsylvania.  Chevalier 
de  Villiers,  brother  of  Jumonville,  who  was  assassinated  by  the 
British,  has  just  burned  Fort  Granville,  sixty  miles  from  Phila- 
delphia."    The  next  year,  Aubry,  another  of  the  Fort  Chartres 


OLD    FORT    CHARTRI  S.  35 

captains,  was  sent  by  Makaity,  with  400  men,  to  reenfurcc  l-ort 
du  Quesne,  then  threatened  by  the  British,  The  morning'  aftt-r 
his  arrival,  he  salHed  out  and  routed  Majuv  Crant  and  his  liigh- 
landers,  and,  a  tew  days  later,  surprised  the  British  camp  forty- 
five  miles  away,  captured  their  horses,  and  brought  his  parly 
back  mounted.  Soon,  however,  the  approach  of  a  superior  force. 
with  Washington  and  his  riflemen  in  the  van,  compelled  the 
abandonment  of  Fort  du  Quesne.  By  the  light  of  its  burning 
stockade,  the  Illinois  troops  sailed  down  the  Beautiful  River,  and 
sadly  returned  to  their  homes. 

The  British  star  was  now  in  the  ascendant,  yet  still  the 
French  struggled  gallantly.  Once  more  the  drum  'beat  to-arms 
on  the  parade-ground  at  Fort  Chartres,  at  the  command  to 
march  to  raise  the  siege  of  Fort  Niagara.  All  the  Illinois 
villages  sent  volunteers,  and  Aubry  led  the  expedition  by  a 
devious  route,  joining  the  detachments  from  Detroit  and  Michi- 
limackinac,  on  Lake  Erie.  As  they  entered  the  Niagara 
River,  Indian  scouts  reported  that  they  were  "'like  a  floating 
island,  so  black  was  the  stream  with  their  bateaux  and  canoes." 
The  desperate  charge  upon  the  British  lines  failed,  Aubry, 
covered  with  wounds,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  the 
bulletin  reads,  "Of  the  French  from  the  Illinois,  many  were 
killed  and  many  taken  prisoner."  Despair  and  gloom  settled 
upon  the  Fort  and  its  neighborhood,  when  the  sorrowful  news 
came  back.  Makarty  writes  to  the  Oovernor-General:  "The 
defeat  at  Niagara  has  cost  me  the  flower  of  my  men.  My  garri- 
son is  weaker  than  ever.  The  British  are  building  bateaux  at 
Pittsburg.  I  have  made  all  arrangements,  according  to  my 
strength,  to  receive  the  enemy."'  And  the  Governor-Cieneral 
replies,  'T  strongly  recommend  you  to  be  on  your  guard."  The 
surrender,  at  Montreal,  of  the  Canadas,  followed  upon  the  victory 
on  the  plains  of  Abraham,  but  still  the  Illinois  held  out  for  the 
King.  Neyon  de  Villiers  received  his  well-earned  jiromotion. 
and  assumed  command  at  Fort  Chartres.  And  the  tine  old 
soldier,  Makarty,  doubtless,  regretting  that  h«r  had  not  had  the 
opportunity  to  test  the  strength  of  the  goodly  stone  walls  he  h.id 
builded,  sheathed  his  sword,  twirled  his  moustache,  made  his 
bow,  and  departed. 

The  village  at  the  Fort  gate,  which,  after  the  rebuilding,  was 
called  New  Chartres,  had  become  a  well-established  comnninit\-. 
The  title  records  t|uaintly  illustrate  its  ways  of  transacting  busi- 
ness, as  when,  for  instance,  the  royal  notary  at  the  Illinois 
declares  that  he  made  a  certain  public  sale  in  the  forenoon  c»l 
Sunday,  after    the   great    parochial    mass   of  St.    Anne   "f   N'-w 


T,6  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

Chartres.  at  the  main  door  of  the  church,  offering  the  property  in 
a  high  and  audible  voice,  while  the  people  were  going  out  in 
great  numbers  from  said  church.  And  the  parish  register,  which, 
briefly  and  drily,  notes  the  marriages  of  the  common  people, 
spares  neither  space  nor  words  in  the  record  of  the  weddings  in 
the  families  of  the  officers  at  the  Fort.  When  Jean  la  Freile'  de 
Vidrinne,  othcer  of  a  compau}-,  is  married  to  Elizabeth  de  Mon- 
charveaux,  daughter  of  Jean  Francois  Liveron  de  Moncharveaux, 
captain  of  a  company,  and  when  the  Monsieur  Andre  Chevalier, 
royal  solicitor  and  treasurer  for  the  King  at  the  country  of  the 
Illinois,  weds  Madeleine  Loisel,  names,  and  titles,  and  ancestry, 
are  set  forth  at  length,  and  Makarty.  the  commandant,  Buchet, 
the  principal  writer.  Du  Barry,  a  lieutenant,  all  the  dignitaries 
of  fort  and  village,  and  all  the  relatives,  subscribe  the  register  as 
witnesses.  The  ladies  sign  with  a  careful  deliberation,  indicating 
that  penmanship  was  not  one  of  their  recreations:  the  gentlemen 
with  flourishes  so  elaborate,  that  they  seem  to  have  been  hardly 
able  to  bring  them  to  a  close.  These  entries  appear  in  a  separate 
volume,  the  last  in  date  of  the  parish  books,  entitled  "Register 
of  the  iSIarriages  made  in  the  Parish  of  St.  Anne,  containing 
seventeen  sheets,  or  sixty-eight  pages,  numbered  and  initialed  by 
Mr.  Buchet.  principal  writer  and  judge."  (Signed)  Buchet.  And 
in  the  Baptismal  register  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Joseph,  at  Prairie 
du  Rocher,  appears  an  entry  which  has  a  strangely  familiar  sound. 
For  it  recites  that  several  persons,  adults  and  children,  were 
baptized  together,  in  the  "presence  of  their  parents,  brothers, 
uncles,  mutual  friends,  their  sisters,  their  cousins,  and  their  aunts." 
This,  palpably,  is  the  germ  of  "Pinafore,"  which  Illinois  may 
therefore  take  the  credit  of  originating,  long  before  our  era ! 

New  Chartres,  and  the  other  villages  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
the  Fort,  rested  secure  in  the  belief  that,  although  Canada  had 
surrendered,  Louisiana,  with  the  Illinois  country,  would  still  be 
preserved  by  the  King,  who  might  thence  reconquer  his  lost  pos- 
sessions. Hence,  like  a  thunder-clap,  came  the  news  that  on  the 
loth  of  Feb..  1763,  Louis  XV.  had  ratified  the  treaty  transferring 
them  to  the  British  Government.  The  aged  Bienville,  then  living 
in  Paris,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  begged  that  the  colony,  to  which 
he  had  given  the  best  years  of  his  life,  might  be  spared  to  France, 
but  in  vain.  AVith  a  stroke  of  his  pen.  the  weak  King  ceded  to 
Great  Britain  the  Canadas,  the  Illinois,  and  all  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  east  of  the  river.  While  at  Fort  Chartres  they  were 
in  daily  expectation  of  news  of  the  coming  of  British  troops  to 
take  possession,  an  expedition  arrived  from  New  Orleans  to  settle 
at   the   Illinois.       It   was   headed   by   Pierre  Laclede,  the   repre- 


OLD    FORT    ClIARTKKS. 


sentative  of  a  company  of  merchants  engaged  in  the  fur  trade. 
Learning  here  of  the  treaty  of  cession,  he  at  once  decided  to 
estabhsh  a  new  post  in  the  territory,  west  of  the  Mississijipi,  sup- 
posed to  be  still  French  ground.  Neyon  de  Villiers  iicriuiitcd 
him  to  store  his  goods  and  quarter  his  company  at  the  I'ort.  and 
Laclede,  after  an  e.xjjloring  tour,  selected  a  fine  bluft",  si.My  miles 
to  the  northward,  for  the  site  of  his  colony.  He  foresaw  some- 
thing of  its  future  importance,  and,  returning  to  Fort  Chartres  fur 
the  winter,  discoursed  with  enthusiasm  upon  its  prospects,  and 
took  possession  in  the  spring.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
city  of  St.  Louis.  Many  of  the  French  from  the  Illinois  followed 
him,  even  transporting  their  houses  to  the  other  sh  re.  so  great 
was  their  desire  to  live  under  their  own  flag.  And  terrible  was 
their  disappointment,  when  the  secret  treaty  with  S])ain  was  made 
known,  by  which  their  faithless  King  ceded  all  his  dominions 
beyond  the  Mississippi  to  the  nation  which  had  so  long  disputed 
with  France  her  foothold  there.  Their  last  estate  seemed  worse 
than  their  first,  for  much  as  they  detested  the  defiant  banner  of 
Britain,  with  a  deeper  hatred  they  regarded  the  gloomy  ensign 
of  Spain.  Many  more  of  the  unhaijpy  colonists  descended  the 
Mississippi,  with  Neyon  de  Villiers,  in  the  belief  that  lower 
Louisiana  was  to  remain  under  French  control,  and  that  their 
condition  would  be  bettered  there,  only  to  be  bitterly  disap- 
pointed. Those  who  remained  felt  their  hopes  revive,  as  time 
passed  on  and  the  red-coats  came  not. 

The  veteran  St.  Ange,  who  had  returned  from  Vincennes  to 
play  the  last  sad  act  of  the  drama,  with  a  little  garrison  of 
forty  men,  still  held  the  Fort,  although  it  was  the  only  place 
in  North  America  at  which  the  white  tlag  of  the  L.ourlions 
was  flying.  All  else  had  been  ceded  and  surrendered,  but 
the  way  to  the  west  was  not  yet  open,  for  Pontiac  was  a  lion 
in  the  path.  The  British  victory  was  not  complete  until  that 
flag  was  lowered,  and  repeated  efforts  to  accomplish  this  were 
made.  Again  and  again  were  they  thwarted  by  the  Forest 
Chieftain.  ^Lajor  Loftus,  ascending  the  Misi^ssippi  with  a  force 
to  take  possession  of  Fort  Chartres,  was  greeted  with  a  volley 
at  the  bluffs,  still  called  Loftus  Heights,  and  retreated  to  1  en- 
sacola.  Captain  Pitman,  seeking  to  find  Iv.^.  way  irom  Mobile 
in  the  guise  of  a  trader,  gave  up  the  attempt  as  too  hazard-  - 
Captain  Morris,  sent  from  Detroit  to  arrange  for  the  surreiuiu 
of  the  Fort,  was  met  by  Pontiac,  who,  sciuatting  in  front  ol 
him,  opened  the  interview  bv  observing  that  the  British  were 
liars,  and  asked  if  he  had  come  to  lie  to  them  hke  the  res  . 
Attentions  much  less  courteous  were  received  from  individuals  ol 

29074G 


38  OLD   FORT    CHARTRES. 

the  Kickapoo  persuasion,  and  Morris  turned  back,  while  still 
several  hundred  miles  from  his  destination.  Lieutenant  Frazer, 
pushing  down  the  Ohio,  reached  Kaskaskia,  where  he  fell  into 
Pontiac's  hands,  who  kept  him  all  one  night  in  dread  of  being 
boiled  alive,  and  at  da3'break  shipped  him  to  New  (3rleans  by 
canoe  express,  with  the  cheerful  information  that  the  kettle  was 
boiling  over  a  large  fire  to  receive  any  other  Englishmen  who 
came  that  way.  Frazer  could  only  console  himself,  for  his  other- 
wise fruitless  voyage  down  both  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi, 
with  the  thought  that  he  had  been  nearer  to  the  objective  point 
than  any  other  officer,  and  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  country. 
George  Croghan,  Sir  ^^'illiam  Johnson's  interpreter,  following 
Frazer  on  the  same  errand,  was  waylaid  by  the  Shawnees 
on  the  Ohio  and  sent  to  the  Indian  villages  on  the  Wabash, 
whence  he  took  Morris'  route  to  Detroit.  The  French  and 
Spanish  officers  in  Louisana,  laughed  at  the  British  failures  to 
reach  a  fort  they  claimed  to  own,  and  suggested  that  an  import- 
ant party  had  been  omitted  in  the  treaty  of  cession,  and  that  a 
new  one  should  be  made  with  King  Pontiac.  Meanwhile  that 
sovereign  was  ordering  into  service  some  Illinois  Indians, 
assembled  near  Fort  Chartres,  and  when  they  showed  a  reluctance 
to  engage  in  hostilities  against  their  new  rulers,  said  to  them : 
"Hesitate  not,  or  I  destroy  you  as  fire  does  the  prairie  grass. 
Listen,  and  recollect  these  are  the  words  of  Pontiac!"  Their 
scruples  vanished  with  amazing  rapidity,  and  they  did  his  bidding. 
Then  with  his  retinue  of  dusky  warriors,  he  led  the  way  through 
the  tall  gateway  of  Fort  Chartres,  and  greeting  St.  Ange,  as  he 
sat  in  the  government  house,  said  "  Father,  I  have  long  wished 
to  see  thee,  to  recall  the  battles  which  we  fought  together  against 
the  misguided  Indians  and  the  English  dogs.  I  love  the  French, 
and  I  have  come  here  with  my  warriors  to  avenge  their  wrongs." 
But  St.  Ange  plainly  told  him  that  all  was  over;  Onontio,  their 
great  French  father  could  do  no  more  for  his  red  children;  he 
was  beyond  the  sea  and  could  not  hear  their  voices;  and  they 
must  make  peace  with  the  English.  Pontiac,  at  last  convinced, 
gave  up  the  contest,  and  made  no  opposition  to  the  approach 
from  Fort  Pitt,  by  the  Ohio,  of  a  detachment  of  the  42d  High- 
landers, the  famous  Black  Watch,  under  Captain  Sterling,  to 
whom  St.  Ange  formally  surrendered  the  Fort  on  the  loth  of 
October,  1765.  The  lilies  of  France  gave  place  to  the  red  cross 
of  St.  George,  and  the  long  struggle  was  ended.  At  Fort 
Chartres  the  great  empire  of  France  in  the  New  World  ceased 
forever. 

The  minute  of  the  surrender  of  Fort  Chartres  to  M.  Sterling, 


OLD   FORT   CHARTRES.  -i^ 

appointed  by  M.  de  Gage,  Governor  of  New  \ork.  Cuiiiiuandcr 
of  His  Britannic  Majesty's  troops  in  North  America,  is  preserved 
in  the  French  archives  at  Paris.  The  Fort  is  carefully  described 
in  it,  with  its  arched  gateway,  fifteen  feet  high;  a  cut-stone  plat- 
form above  the  gate,  with  a  stair  of  nineteen  stone  steps,  having 
a  stone  balustrade,  leading  to  it;  its  walls  of  stone  eighteen  feet 
in  height;  and  its  four  bastions,  each  with  forty-eight  loop  holes, 
eight  embrasures,  and  a  sentry-box,  the  whole  in  cut  stone.  And 
within,  the  great  store-house,  ninety  feet  long  by  thirty  wide,  two 
stories  high,  and  gable-roofed;  the  guard-house  having  two  rooms 
above  for  the  chapel  and  missionary  cjuarters ;  the  government- 
house  84  X  32,  Avith  iron  gates  and  a  stone  porch,  a  coach-house 
and  pigeon-house  adjoining,  and  a  large  stone  well  inside;  the 
intendant's  house  of  stone  and  iron,  with  a  portico;  the  two 
rows  of  barracks,  each  128  feet  long:  the  magazine  thirty-five 
feet  wide,  thirty-eiglit  feet  long,  and  thirteen  feet  high  above  the 
ground,  with  a  doorway  of  cut  stone,  and  two  doors,  one  of 
wood  and  one  of  iron ;  the  bake-house  with  two  ovens,  and  a 
stone  well  in  front;  the  prison  with  four  cells  of  cut  stone,  and 
iron  doors;  and  one  large  relief  gate  to  the  north;  the  whole 
enclosing  an  area  of  more  than  four  acres.  The  English  had 
insisted  that,  under  the  treaty  of  cession,  the  guns  in  all  the  forts 
belonged  to  them.  The  French  Governor,  of  Louisiana,  dis- 
puted the  claim,  but  consented  to  leave  those  at  the  Illinois, 
with  a  promise  of  their  restoration,  if  his  view  proved  correct. 
Hence  the  cannon  of  Fort  Chartres  were  transferred  with  it,  for 
the  time  at  least. 

St.  Ange  and  his  men  took  boat  for  St.  Louis,  where,  feeling 
that  their  sovereign  had  utterly  deserted  them,  they  soon  decided 
to  exchange  the  service  of  his  Most  Christian  .NLijesty  of  France, 
for  that  of  his  Most  Catholic  Majesty  of  Spain.  They  were 
speedily  enrolled  in  the  garrison  of  St.  Louis,  of  which  St.  .\nge 
was  appointed  to  the  command,  to  the  great  satisfaction  ot  his 
comrades  and  his  old  neighbors  from  the  Illinois.  One  tragedy 
signalized  the  accession  of  the  new  government  at  Fort  Chartres. 
Two  young  officers,  one  French  and  the  other  English,  were  rival 
suitors  for  the  hand  of  a  young  lady  in  the  neighborhood,  and  a 
quarrel  arose  which  led  to  a  duel.  They  fought  with  small-swords 
early  on  a  Sundav  morning,  near  the  Fort,  the  Englishman  was 
slain,  and  the  Frenchman  made  haste  to  descend  the  river  to 
New  Orleans.  The  story  of  this,  no  doubt  the  first  duel  fought 
in  Illinois,  was  related,  nearly  fortv  years  after  its  occurrence,  by 
an  aged  Frenchman,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  combat,  to 
the  chronicler  who  has  preserved  the  account.     W  ith  the  depar- 


40  OLD    FORT   CHARTRES. 

ture  of  the  French  soldiers,  the  last  spark  of  life  in  the  village  of 
New  Chartres  went  out.  On  the  register,  then  in  use  in  the 
church  of  St.  Anne,  was  written,  ''The  above-mentioned  church 
(parochial  of  St.  Anne  of  New  Chartres)  having  been  abolished, 
the  rest  of  the  paper  which  was  in  this  book  has  been  taken  for 
the  service  of  the  church  at  Kaskaskia."  And  the  Mississippi, 
as  if  bent  upon  destroying  every  vestige  of  the  once  happy  and 
prosperous  village,  encroached  upon  its  site  until  a  large  portion 
of  it  was  swept  away.  Shortly  after  its  abandonment,  the  parish 
register  of  Prairie  du  Rocher,  which  place  continued  to  be 
occupied  by  the  French,  records  the  removal  of  the  bodies  of  the 
Reverend  Fathers  Gagnon  and  Collet,  priests  of  St.  Anne  of 
New  Chartres,  from  the  ruined  cemetery  near  that  church  on  the 
})oint  in  the  river,  and  their  burial  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Joseph,  at 
Prairie  du  Rocher. 

The  Illinois  had  now  become  an  British  colony,  "in  the  days 
when  George  the  Third  was  King."  The  simple  French  inhabi- 
tants with  difficulty  accustomed  themselves  to  the  change,  and 
longed  for  the  paternal  sway  of  the  commanders  of  their  own 
race.  It  is  said  that  soon  after  the  British  occupation,  the 
officer,  in  authority  at  Fort  Chartres,  died  suddenly,  and  there 
being  no  one  competent  to  succeed  him,  the  wheels  of  govern- 
ment stopped.  And  that  St.  Ange,  hearing,  at  St.  Louis,  of  the 
confusion  in  his  old  province,  repaired  to  Fort  Chartres,  restored 
order,  and  remained  there  until  another  British  officer  could 
reach  the  spot.  The  story  is  typical  of  the  man,  who  deserves  a 
wider  fame  than  he  has  won.  For  he  was  a  fine  exemplar  of  the 
tidelity,  the  courage,  and  the  true  gentleness,  which  are  worthy  of 
the  highest  honor.  He  spent  a  long  life  in  the  arduous  duties  of 
a  frontier  officer,  commanding  escorts  through  the  wilderness, 
stationed  at  the  different  posts  in  the  North-West  in  turn,  and  for 
more  than  fifty  years  associated  with  the  Illinois  country,  which 
became  the  home  of  his  family.  Born  in  Canada,  and  entering 
the  French  army  as  a  boy,  he  grew  gray  in  the  service,  and  when 
surrendered  to  the  foeman,  he  had  so  long  opposed,  by  the 
unworthy  King,  who  made  no  provision  for  the  men  who  had 
stood  so  steadfastly  for  him,  he  was  more  faithful  to  France  than 
-Louis  XV.  had  been.  For  his  removal  to  St.  Louis,  and  accept- 
ance of  a  Spanish  commission,  were  in  the  interest  and  for  the 
protection  of  his  misled  countrymen,  who  had  settled  at  that 
place  solely  that  they  might  still  be  French  subjects.  There  he 
remained,  the  patriarch  of  the  infant  settlement,  beloved  and 
honored  by  all,  until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  in  the 
year  of  the  commencement   of  our  revolution.     And   all   who 


OLD    FORT   CllAKTKHS.  41 

knew  him,  friends  and  foes,  countrymen  and  foreigners,  white 
men  and  red,  ahke  bear  testimony  to  the  uprightness,  the  steady 
fortitude,  the  unshrinking  courage,  the  kindhness  and  nol»iHiy  of 
Louis  St.  Ange  de  Belle  Rive,  the  last  French  Commandant  of 
the  Illinois. 

In  December  of  the  year  of  the  surrender,  Major  Farmer,  with 
a  strong  detachment  of  the  34th  British  Foot,  arrived  at  the  P'ort 
from  Mobile,  and  took  command.     The  following  year  he  was 
relieved  by  Colonel  Edward  Cole,  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  an 
officer  in  the  Old  French  War,  who  comanded  a  regiment  under 
(ieneral  Wolfe  at  the  siege  of  Quebec,  and  was  at  the  capture  of 
Havana  by  the  Earl  of  Albemarle.     In  letters  written  from  the 
Fort,  in  1766  to  1768,  to  his  old  comrade  and  partner  in  busi- 
ness. Colonel  Henry  Van  Schaick,  he  says,  "This  country  is  far 
from  answering  my  expectations  in  any  other  jioint  than  the  soil. 
I  have  enjoyed  but  a  small  share  of  health  since  I  arrived.     1 
have  been  much  deceived  in  the  description  of  this  country,  and 
am  determined  to  quit  it  as  soon  as  I  can.    No  comfort.     Indians 
eternally  about  me."     During  his  term  of  ottice,  Captain  I'hilip 
Pitman,  a  British  engineer  officer,  the  same  who  had  unsuccess- 
fully  endeavored    to    reach    the    Illinois   during   Pontiac's   rule, 
visited    the    Fort   in    pursuance  of  his   orders   to   e.xamine   the 
British  posts  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.     In  his  report  he  says: 
"The  walls  of  Fort  Chartres  are  two  feet  two  inches  thick,  and 
the  entrance  is  through  a  very  handsome  gate."     He  describes 
the  works  and  buildings  very  fully,  and  concludes  as  follows:  "It 
is  generally  believed  that  this  is  the  most  convenient  and  best 
built  Fort  in  North  America."     In  1768,  Col.  Cole  was  followed 
by  a  Col.  Reed,  who  became  so  notorious  for  his  oj.pression  of 
the  people,  that  he  was  speedily  relieved  by  John  Wilkins,  Lieut.- 
Colonel  of  the  i8th  or  Royal  Irish,  the  former  commander  of 
Fort  Niagara,  who  reached  the  Illinois,  with  seven  comjianies  of 
his  regiment,  from   Philadelphia,  by  way  of  Pitt.sburg,  in  Sept.. 
1768.     From  the  correspondence  of  Ensign  Ceorge  Butricke,  an 
officer  in  this  expedition,  we  learn  that,  on  th^ir  way  down  the 
Ohio,  they  killed  so  many  buffalo  that  they  commonly  served  out 
one  a  day  to  each  companv,  and  they  were  forty-three  days  on 
the  way,  from  Pittsburg  to  Kaskaskia.     Speaking  of  Fort  Chartres 
as  "built  of  stone,  with  bastions  at  each  angle,  and  very  good 
barracks  of  stone,"  he  describes  the  land  around  it  as  the  finest  in 
the  known  world,  and  gives  his  opinion  to  the  effect  that  "it  is  a 
shocking  unhealthy  country."     Col.  Wilkins,  under  a  proclamation 
from  General  Gage,  established  a  court  of  law,  with  seven  judges, 
to  sit  at  Fort  Chartres,  and  administer  the  law  of  England,  the 


42  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

first  court  of  common-law  jurisdiction,  west  of  the  AUeghanies. 
The  old  French  court  of  the  royal  jurisdiction  of  the  Illinois,  with 
its  single  judge,  governed  by  the  civil  law,  had  ceased  with  the 
surrender.  Its  records  for  many  years  were  preserved  at  Kaskas- 
kia,  where  the  late  Judge  Breese  saw  and  made  extracts  from 
them.  When  the  county-seat  was  removed,  less  care  was  taken 
of  them,  and  within  a  few  years  past,  these  documents,  so  inter- 
esting and  valuable  to  the  antiquarian  and  the  historian,  have 
been  used  by  veritable  Illinois  Vandals  to  light  the  fires  in  a 
country  court-house,  and  but  a  solitary  fragment  now  remains. 
In  Wilkins'  time,  that  famous  warrior,  Pontiac,  was  basely  slain  at 
Cahokia,  by  an  Illinois  Indian.  St.  Ange,  then  commanding  at 
St.  Louis,  honoring  the  noble  red  man,  whom  he  had  known  long 
and  well,  brought  the  body  to  his  fort,  and  gave  it  solemn  burial. 
The  friends  of  Pontiac,  avenging  his  death,  pursued  one  fragment 
of  the  Illinois  tribe  to  the  walls  of  Fort  Chartres,  and  slew  many 
there,  the  British  refusing  them  admission.  At  Prairie  du 
Rocher,  about  this  period,  is  recorded  the  marriage  of  a  French 
soldier,  of  the  garrison  of  St.  Louis,  with  the  written  permission 
of  M.  de  St.  Ange,  his  commander,  to  an  Englishwoman  from 
Salisbury,  in  Wiltshire,  which  the  good  priest  writes,  "Solbary,  in 
the  province  of  Wuilser."  It  is  significant  of  the  different  races, 
and  the  varying  sovereignties  in  that  portion  of  our  country,  that 
a  French  soldier,  from  the  Spanish  city  of  St.  Louis,  should  be 
married  to  an  Englishwoman  by  a  French  priest,  in  the  British 
colony  of  Illinois. 

The  occupation  of  Fort  Chartres,  however,  by  the  soldiers  of 
any  nation,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  For  seven  years  only  the 
British  ruled  there,  though,  doubtless,  believing  it  to  be  their 
permanent  headquarters  for  the  whole  North- West.  But  the 
Mississippi  had  ever  been  a  French  river,  and  could  not  bide  the 
presence  of  the  rival  nation  on  its  banks.  Its  waters  murmured 
the  names  of  Marquette  and  Joliet,  of  LaSalle  and  Tonti,  and 
their  memories  would  not  suffer  it  to  rest  contented  with  success- 
ors of  another  race.  So  it  rose  in  its  might  and  assailed  the 
Fort,  arid  on  a  stormy  night  in  spring-time  its  resistless  flood  tore 
away  a  bastion,  and  a  part  of  the  river  wall.  The  British  in  all 
haste  fled  across  the  submerged  meadows,  taking  refuge  on  the 
hills  above  Kaskaskia;  and  from  the  year  1772,  Fort  Chartres 
was  never  occupied  again. 

The  capricious  Mississippi,  as  if  satisfied  with  this  recognition 
of  its  power,  now  devoted  itself  to  the  reparation  of  the  damage 
it  had  wrought.  The  channel  between  the  Fort  and  the  island  in 
front  of  it,  once  forty  feet  deep,  began  to  fill  up,  and,  ultimately. 


OLD    FORT    CIIARTRtS. 


4.^ 


the  main  shore  and  the  island  were  united,  leaving  the  Fort  a 
mile  or  more  inland.  A  thick  growth  of  trees  speedily  concealed 
it  from  the  view  bf  those  passing  upon  the  river,  and  the  high 
road  from  Cahokia  to  Kaskaskia,  which  at  first  ran  between  the 
Fort  and  the  river,  was  soon  after  locatetl  at  the  foot  of  the  hliifts. 
three  miles  to  the  eastward.  These  changes,  which  left  the  Kurt 
completely  isolated  and  hidden,  together  with  the  accounts  of 
the  British  evacuation,  gave  rise  to  the  reports  of  its  total  dis- 
truction  by  theriver.  Parkman,  alluding  to  it  as  it  was  in  1764, 
says,  "The  encroaching  Mississippi  was  destined  before  many 
years  to  engulf  curtain  and  bastion  in  its  ravenous  abyss."  A 
work  relating  to  the  history  of  the  North-West,  published  only 
last  year,  informs  us  that  "the  spot  on  which  Fort  Chartres 
stood  became  the  channel  of  the  river,"  and  even  some  who  have 
lived  for  years  in  its  neighborhood  will  tell  you  that  it  is  entirely 
swept  away.  But  this  is  entirely  erroneous;  the  ruins  still  remain ; 
and  had  man  treated  it  as  kindly  as  the  elements,  the  old  Fort 
would  be  nearly  perfect  to-day. 

After  the  British  departed,  an  occasional  band  of  Indians 
found  shelter  for  a  little  time  in  the  lonely  buildings,  but  other- 
wise, the  solitude  which  claimed  for  its  own  the  once  busy  fortres.s, 
remained  unbroken  for  many  a  year  to  come.  Congress,  in  1788, 
reserved  to  our  government  a  tract  of  land  one  mile  square,  on 
the  Mississippi,  extending  as  far  above  as  below  Fort  Chartres, 
including  the  said  Fort,  the  buildings,  and  improvements  adjoin- 
ing the  same.  It  would  have  been  well  to  provide  for  the  pre- 
servation of  this  monument  of  the  romantic  era  of  our  history, 
but,  of  course,  nothing  of  the  sort  was  done.  The  enactment 
simply  prevented  any  settlement  upon  the  reservation,  and  left 
the  Fort  to  become  more  and  more  a  part  of  the  wilderness,  and 
its  structures  a  prey  to  the  spoiler.  Now  and  then  an  adventur- 
ous traveler  found  his  way  thither.  Quaint  old  Gov.  Reynolds. 
who  saw  it  in  1802,  says,  "It  is  an  object  of  antujuarian 
curiosity.  The  trees,  undergrowth,  and  brush  are  mi.xed  and 
interwoven  with  the  old  walls.  It  presented  the  most  stnkuig 
contrast  between  a  savage  wilderness,  filled  with  wild  beasts  and 
reptiles,  and  the  remains  of  one  of  the  largest  and  strongest 
fortifications  on  the  continent.  Large  trees  were  growuig  in  the 
houses  which  once  contained  the  elegant  and  accomplished 
French  officers  and  soldiers."  And  then,  with  a  hazv  idea  of 
rivalling  the  prophecy  of  the  lion  and  the  lamb,  he  adds,  ."^'i"" 
non,  snakes,  and  bats  were  sleeping  together  in  peace  m  and 
around  this  fort."  Major  Amos  Stoddard,  of  the  U.S.  Engineers, 
who  took   possession   of  Upper  Louisiana  for  our  government 


44  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

under  the  treaty  of  cession,  in  1S04,  visited  Fort  Chartres  and 
thus  describes  it,   "Its  figure  is  quadrilateral  with  four  bastions, 
the  whole  of  lime-stone,  well  cemented.     The  \\%lls  are  still  entire. 
A  spacious  square  of  barracks  and  a  capacious  magazine  are  in 
good  preservation.     The  enclosure  is  covered  with  trees  from 
seven  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter.     In  fine  this  work  exhibits  a 
splendid  ruin.     The  inhabitants  have  taken  away  great  quantities 
of  material  to  adorn  their  own  buildings."'     Brackenridge,  U.S. 
Judge  for  the  District  of  Louisiana,  in  a  work  published  in  181 7, 
has  this  passage,  "Fort  de  Chartres  is  a  noble  ruin,  and  is  visited! 
by  strangers  as  a  great  curiosity.     I  was  one  of  a  party  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  who  ascended  in  a  barge  from  Ste.   Genevieve,  1 
nine  miles  below.      The  outward   wall,  barracks,  and  magazine] 
are  still  standing.     There  are  a  number  of  cannon  lying  half 
buried  in  the  earth  with  their  trunnions  broken  off.     In  visiting] 
the  various  parts,  we  started  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys,  which  had  I 
concealed  themselves  in  this  hiding-place.     I  remarked  a  kind  of^ 
enclosure  near,  which,  according  to  tradition,  was  fitted  up  by  the] 
officers  as  a  kind  of  arbor  where  they  could  sit  and  converse  in  I 
the  heat  of  the  day."     In  1820,  Beck,  the  publisher  of  a  GazeteerJ 
of  Illinois  and  Missouri,  made  a  careful  survey  of  the  remains  of 
the  Fort.     He  speaks  of  it  then  as  a  splendid  ruin,   "the  walls  inl 
some  places  perfect,  the  buildings  in  ruins,  except  the  magazine,] 
and  in  the  hall  of  one  of  the  houses  an  oak  growing,  eighteenj 
inches    in    diameter."      Hall,    the    author   of    a    book    entitlec 
Romance  of  the  West,  was  at  Fort  Chartres,  in  1829.     "Althougl" 
the  spot  was  familiar  to  my  companion,"  he  says,   "it  was  witi 
some    difficulty    that    we    found    the   ruins,   which    are    covered] 
with  a  vigorous  growth  of  forest  trees  and  a  dense  undergrowth 
of  bushes  and  vines.      Even   the  crumbling  pile  itself  is   thus 
overgrown,  the  tall  trees  rearing  their  stems  from  piles  of  stone,] 
and    the  vines  creeping  over  the   tottering  walls.      The   build- 
ings   were    all    razed    to    the    ground,    but    the    lines    of    the] 
foundations  could  be   easily  traced.      A  large  vaulted  powder-J 
magazine  remained  in  good  preservation.     The  exterior  wall  was 
thrown  down  in  some  places,  but   in  others  retained  something 
like  its  original  height  and  form.     And  it  was  curious  to  see  in^ 
the  gloom  of  a  wild  forest  these  remnants  of  the  architecture  of 
a  past  age."     The   Fort   Chartres   Reservation  was   opened   to 
entry  in  1849,  "o  provision  being  made  concerning  what  remained 
of  the  Fort.     The  land  was  taken  up  by  settlers,  the  area  of  the 
works  cleared  of  trees,  and  a  cabin  built  within  it,  and  the  pro- 
cess of  demolition  hastened  by  the  increasing  number  of  those 
who  resorted  there  for  building  material.     Governor  Reynolds 


PLAN   OF   FORT   CllAKTRKS 
ON  THE  MISHISSiri'I. 
Drawn    fn,m  a  survey  made    by  N.   Hansen,   Ks.,.,  „f   llli„„is,  an.l    1.    . 

Beck,  in  1820. 


\ 


G 

1 

1 

' 

G 

•-  RAVINE 

AAA     The  exterior  wall — 1447  feet. 

I!     The  gate  or  entrance  to  the  fort. 

C     A  small  gate. 

D  D     The  two  houses  formerly  occupied  by  the  commandant  anl    cummis- 

sary,  each  96  feet  in  length  and  30  in  breadth. 
E     The  well. 
F     The  magazine. 
GGGG     Houses  formerly  occupied  as  barracks,    135 'feel  in  lenqlh,  36  in 

breadth. 
H  H     Formerly  occupied  as  a  storehouse  and  guard-house,  90  feci  \>y  24 
I     The  remains  of  small  magazine. 
K     The  remains  of  a  furnace. 
L  E  L     A  ravine,  which  in  the  spring  is  filled  with  water,     lietween  this  and 

the  river,  which  is  about  half-a-mile,  is  a  thick  growth  of  cotton  wood. 

The  area  of  the  fort  is  about  four  square  acres. 


OLD    FORT   CHARTRES.  45 

came  again  in  1854,  and  found  "Fort  Chartrcs  a  pile  of  mould- 
ering ruins,  and  the  walls  torn  away  almost  even  with  the  surface." 
To  one  visiting  the  site  but  a  year  ago,  the  excursion  afforded 
as  strong  a  contrast  between  the  past  and  the  present  as  may 
readily  be  found.  Leaving  the  railway  at  the  nearest  point  to 
the  ruins,  the  brisk  new  town  of  Red  Bud,  twenty  miles  distant, 
the  greater  part  of  the  drive  over  the  prairie  and  through  the 
forest  which  intervene,  is  as  monotonous  as  a  ride  anywhere  in 
Illinois  may  properly  be.  But  when  you  reach  the  bluft",  far 
overlooking  the  lordly  Mississippi,  and  its  lowlands  to  the 
Missouri  hills  beyond,  and  wind  down  the  road  cut  deeply  into 
its  face  to  the  little  village  of  Prairie  du  Rocher,  lying  at  its  foot, 
a  change  comes  over  the  scene.  The  wide  and  shaded  village 
streets  with  the  French  names  above  the  little  stores,  the  houses 
built  as  in  Canada,  with  dormer-windows  and  piazzas  facing  to 
the  south,  the  mill  bearing  the  name  the  Jesuits  gave  the  site,  the 
foreign  accent  and  appearance  of  the  people,  the  very  atmosphere, 
so  full  of  rest  and  quiet,  to  which  hurry  is  unknown,  all  combine 
to  make  one  feel  as  if  in  another  time  and  another  land  than 
ours.  It  is  as  though  a  little  piece  of  old  France  had  been 
transplanted  to  the  Miss^'ssippi,  a.century  since,  and  forgotten;  or 
as  if  a  stratum  of  the  earlv  French  settlements  at  the  Illinois,  a 
hundred  )-ears  ago  or  more,  had  sunk  down  below  the  reach  of 
time  and  change,  with  its  ways  and  customs  and  people  intact, 
and  still  pursued  its  former  life  unmindful  of  the  busy  nineteenth 
century  on  the  uplands  above  its  head.  It  was  not  surprising  to 
be  told  that  at  the  house  of  the  village  priest  some  ancient  relics 
were  to  be  seen,  and  that  some  ancient  documents  had  once 
been  there.  In  such  a  place  such  things  should  always  be.  But 
it  was  a  surprise,  when  shown  into  a  room  adorned  with  portraits 
of  Pius  IX.  and  Leo  XIII.,  and  expecting  to  see  a  venerable 
man  with  black  robes,  and,  perhaps,  the  tonsure,  to  be  suddenly 
greeted  by  a  joyous  youth,  in  German  student  costume,  with  a 
mighty  meerschaum  in  his  hand,  who  introduced  himself  as  the 
priest  in  charge  of  the  parish  of  St.  Joseph  of  Prairie  du  Rocher. 
Arrived  but  six  months  before  from  the  old  country,  he  had  been 
stationed  here  because  of  his  knowledge  of  French,  which  is 
spoken  by  nearly  all  of  the  250  families  in  the  parish,  including  a 
number  of  colored  people,  the  descendants  of  the  slaves  of  the 
early  settlers.  He  led  the  way  to  his  sanctum,  where  he  dis- 
played, with  pride,  three  chalices  and  a  monstrance,  or  receptacle 
for  the  wafer,  very  old  and  of  quaint  workmanship,  made  of  solid 
silver,  and  a  tabernacle  of  inlaid  wood,  all  supposed  to  have 
belonged  to  the  church  of  St.  Anne  of  Fort  Chartres.      He  had 


46  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

also  a  solid  silver  table-castor,  marked  1680,  the  property  of  his 
parish,  the  history  of  which  is  unknown.  At  an  inquiry  for  old 
manuscripts,  he  produced,  from  a  lumber-room,  a  bundle  of  dis- 
colored papers,  fast  going  to  decay,  which  he  had  found  in  the 
house  when  he  took  possession,  but  of  which  he  knew  but  little. 
Almost  the  first  inspection  revealed  a  marriage  register  of  the 
church  of  St.  Anne,  with  the  autographs  of  Makarty  and  De 
Villiers,  and  subsequent  examination  showed  that  these  papers 
comprised  a  large  part  of  the  registers  of  that  parish,  as  well  as 
the  early  records  of  St.  Joseph  of  Prairie  du  Rocher. 

Such  an  experience  was  a  fitting  prelude  to  the  sight  of  the  old 
Fort  itself,  though  this  was,  'indeed,  difficult  to  find.  In  the 
early  day  all  roads  in  the  Illinois  country  led  to  Fort  Chartres. 
Highways  thither  are  the  most  prominent  feature  of  the  old 
village  plats  and  ancient  maps  of  the  region.  Now,  not  even  a 
path  leads  to  it.  The  simple  French  people  along  the  way  could 
not  believe  that  any  one  could  really  wish  to  visit  the  old  Fort, 
and  with  kindly  earnestness  insisted  that  the  intended  destination 
must  be  the  river  landing,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  Fort, 
but  is  some  miles  away  from  it.  By  dint  of  repeated  inquiries,  a 
course  was  found  which  led  to  the  goal  after  a  five -mile  drive 
from  Prairie  du  Rocher.  The  ruins  were  approached  by  a  farm- 
road  across  a  beautiful  level  field,  green  with  winter  wheat,  and 
the  first  sight  of  the  low  bank,  which  marks  the  position  of  the 
walls,  and  of  the  old  magazine  standing  bravely  up  against  the 
forest  background,  was  a  sufficient  reward  for  the  journey.  En- 
tering the  enclosure  through  a  rude  farm-gate,  which  stands  just 
in  the  place  of  its  lofty  predecessor  of  carved  stone,  the  line  of 
the  walls  and  the  corner  bastions  can  be  readily  traced  by  the 
mounds  of  earth  covered  with  scattered  fragments  of  stone, 
beneath  which,  doubtless,  the  heavy  foundations  remain,  except 
at  the  corner  swept  away  by  the  river.-  On  two  sides  the  outline 
of  the  ditch  can  be  seen,  and  the  cellars  of  the  commandant's 
and  intendant's  houses,  and  of  the  barracks,  are  plainly  visible, 
half  filled  with  debris,  under  which,  perhaps,  the  old  cannon  of 
Louis  XIV.  are  still  lying.  .Time  has  settled  the  question  of 
title  to  them,  and  they  belong  neither  to  France  nor  Britain 
now.  One  angle  of  the  main  wall  remains,  and  is  utilized  as  the 
substructure  of  a  stable.  Two  rude  houses,  occupied  by  farm 
tenants,  are  within  the  enclosure,  which  has  been  cleared  of  trees, 
save  a  few  tall  ones  near  the  magazine  and  alongside  the  ditch. 
In  front,  the  ground  is  open  and  under  cultivation,  and,  looking 
from  the  old  gateway,  you  have  before  you  the  prospect  which] 
must  often  have  pleased  the  eyes  of  the  officers  of  France  and 


OLD   FORT   CHARTRKS. 


47 


Britain,  gazing  from  the  cut-stone  platform  above  the  arch;  the 
little  knoll  in  front  where  Boisbriant's  land-grant  to  himself  cotn- 
menced,  the  level  plateau  dotted  with  clumps  of  forest  trees,  the 
gleam  of  the  little  lake  in  the  lowland  and  beyond,  the  beautiful 
buttresses  of  rock,  rounded  and  shaped  as  if  by  the  hand  of  man, 
supporting  the  upland  which  bounds  the  view.  Of  the  vanished 
village  of  St.  Anne,  scarcely  a  vestige  remains,  save  a  few  garden- 
plants  growing  wild  on  the  plain.  Occasionally  a  well  belonging 
to  one  of  its  houses  is  found,  but  there  is  no  sign  of  the  church, 
where  "sales  were  made  in  a  high  and  audible  voice,  while  the 
people  went  in  and  out  in  great  numbers."'  The  site  of  St.  Philip 
is  covered  by  a  farm,  but  to  this  day  a  part  of  its  long  line  of 
fields  is  known  as  '"the  King's  Highway,"  though  there  is  no  road 
there,  and  it  is  supposed  that  this  was  the  route  along  which 
Renault  brought  the  supplies  from  his  grant  to  the  river  for 
transfer  to  his  mines. 

Yet,  though  so  much  has  gone  of  the  ancient  surroundings  and 
of  the  Fort  itself,  it  was  an  exceeding  pleasure  to  find  the  old 
magazine,  still  almost  complete,  and  bearing  itself  as  sturdily  as 
if  conscious  that  it  alone  is  left  of  all  the  vast  domain  of  France 
in  America,  and  resolute  to  preserve  its  memory  for  the  ages  to 
come.     It  stands  within  the  area  of  the  south-eastern  bastion, 
solidly  built  of  stone,  its  walls  four  feet   in  thickness,  sloping 
upward  to  perhaps  twelve  feet  from  the  ground,  and  rounded  at 
the  top.     It  is  partially  covered  with  vines  and  moss,  and  one 
might   travel   far  and  wide  in  our  land   to  find   an  object  so 
picturesque  and  so  venerable.     But  for  the  loss  of  its  iron  doors, 
and  the  cut  stone  about  the  doorway,  it  is  well-nigh  as  perfect  as 
the  day  it  was  built.     AVithin,  a  few  steps  lead  to  the  .solid  stone 
floor,  some  feet  below  the  surface,  and  the  interior,  nearly  thirty 
feet  square,  is   entirely  uninjured.     You   may  note   the  arched 
stone  roof,  the  careful  construction  of  the  heavy  walls,  and  the 
few  small  apertures  for  light  and  air,  curiously  protected  agamst 
injurv    from    without.      Here   one   may    invoke    the   shades   of 
Makarty,  and  De  Villiers,  and  St.  Ange,  and  easily  bnng  back 
the  past.     For,  as  it  is  to-day,  it  has  seen  them  all,  as  they  went 
to  and  fro  before  it,  or  examined  its  store  of  shot  and  shell:  it 
has  heard  the  word  of  command  as  the  grenadiers  drilled  on  the 
parade-ground  hard  by;  it  has  watched  the  tawny  chieftains  and 
their  followers  trooping  in  single  file  through  the  adjacent  gate- 
way;  and  past  its  moss-grown  walls  the  bridal  processions  ol 
Madeleine  Loisel  and  Elizabeth  Montcharveaux,  and  the  other 
fair  ladies  from  the  Fort,  have  gone  to  the  little  church  ol  .^t 
Anne.     And  gazing  at  it  in  such  a  mood,  until  all  about  w.i> 


48  OLD   FORT   CHARTRES. 

peopled  with  "the  airy  shapes  of  long  ago,"  and  one  beheld 
again  the  gallant  company  which  laid  the  foundations  of  this 
fortress  with  such  high  hope  and  purpose,  the  hurrying  scouts 
passing  through  its  portals  with  tidings  of  Indian  foray  or  Spanish 
march,  the  valiant  leaders  setting  forth  from  its  walls  on  distant 
expeditions  against  savage  or  civilized  foe,  the  colonists  flocking 
to  its  store-house  or  council-chamber,  the  dusky  warriors  throng- 
ing its  enclosure  with  Chicago  or  Pontiac  at  their  head,  the 
gathering  there  of  those  wlio  founded  a  great  city,  the  happy 
village  at  its  gates,  and  the  scenes  of  its  momentous  surrender, 
which  sealed  the  loss  of  an  empire  to  France;  it  seemed  not 
unreasonable  to  wish  that  the  State  of  Illinois  might,  while  yet 
there  is  time,  take  measures  to  permanently  preserve,  for  the  sake 
of  the  memories,  the  romance,  and  the  history  interwoven  in  its 
fabric,  what  still  remains  of  Old  Fort  Chartres. 


COL.  lOHX  TODD'S  RECORD -lidol 


\. 


The  early  records  of  "the  Illinois,"  as  the  region  includini,'  our 
State  was  formerly  called,  unfortunately,  have  not  been  preserved. 
Those  of  its  civil  and  judicial  administration,  during  the  sixty 
years  of  its  organized  government  as  a  royal  province,  and  the 
subsequent  period  of  its  existence  as  a  county  of  \'irginia, 
would  be  of  exceeding  value  to  him  who  shall  properly  wTite 
the  history  of  Illinois.  A  large  collection  of  such  jfajters  re 
mained  at  Kaskaskia,  once  the  capital,  successively,  of  pro- 
vince, territory,  and  state,  until  the  day  came  when  the  ancient 
village  was  obliged  to  yield  even  the  honor  of  being  a  county- 
seat  to  the  neighboring  city  of  Chester.  To  the  latter  i)lace. 
several  boxes  filled  with  these  papers  were  then  removed,  and 
stood  for  years  in  the  hall  of  its  court-house,  until,  by  neglect  or 
wanton  misuse,  their  contents  were  lost  or  destroyed.  One,  how- 
ever, of  these  mementos  of  the  past,  and  not  the  least  in  worth 
among  them,  was  recently  found  in  an  office  of  this  court-house, 
in  a  receptacle  for  fuel,  just  in  time  to  save  it  from  the  fiery 
fate  of  many  of  its  companions,  and  is  now  in  the  custody  of  tlie 
Chicago  Historical  Society.  This  is  the  original  Record  or 
Minute-Book  of  Colonel  John  Todd,  tlie  first  civil  governor  ol 
the  Illinois  country. 

When  George  Rogers  Clark  had  cai)tured  the  British  i)0.sts 
beyond  the  Ohio,  under  the  authority  of  Virginia,  that  State  was 
quick  to  act  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  thus  ac«iuired. 
Kaskaskia  was  taken  on  the  4th  of  July,  177-^:  t^^  first  surrender 
of  Vincennes.  or  St.  Vincent,  as  it  was  sometuiies  called,  occurred 
soon  after;  and  in  October,  of  the  same  year,  the  Oeneral 
Assembly  of  Virginia  passed  "An  Act  for  estabhshuig  the 
County  of  Illinois,  and  for  the  more  effectual  protection  and 
defence  thereof."  The  young  Commonwealth,  only  in  the  third 
year  of  its  own  independent  existence,  and  then  with  the  other 
revolted  colonies,  engaged  in  a  death-struggle  with  the  .Mother 
Country,  did  not  shrink  from  the  duty  of  providing  a  suitable 
4 


50  COL.   JOHN    TODD'S   RECORD-BOOK. 

government  for  the  immense  territory  thus  added  to  its  domain. 
The  Act  recites  the  successful  expedition  of  the  Virginia  militia- 
men in  the  country  adjacent  to  the  Mississippi,  and  that  good 
faith  and  safety  require  that  the  citizens  thereof,  who  have 
acknowledged  the  Commonwealth,  shall  be  supported  and  pro- 
tected, and  that  some  temporary  form  of  government,  adapted  to 
their  circumstances,  shall  be  established.  It  provides  that  all  the 
citizens  of  Virginia,  settled  on  the  western  side  of  the  Ohio,  shall 
be  included  in  a  distinct  county,  to  be  called  Illinois  County. 
The  vast  area,  afterwards  ceded  to  the  United  States  under  the 
name  of  the  North-West  Territory,  and  now  divided  into  five 
States,  then  composed  a  single  county  of  Virginia.  Of  this 
county  the  governor  of  the  State  was  authorized  to  appoint  a 
county-lieutenant,  or  commandant,  who  could  appoint  and  com- 
mission deputy-commandants,  militia-officers,  and  commissaries. 
The  religion  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants  were  to  be  respected, 
and  all  civil  officers  were  to  be  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  respective  districts.  The  County- Lieutenant 
had  power  to  pardon  all  offenders,  except  murder  and  treason. 
The  Governor  was  authorized  to  levy  five  hundred  men  to  garri- 
son and  protect  the  county,  and  keep  up  communications  with 
Virginia,  and  with  the  Spanish  settlements,  and  to  take  measures 
to  supply  goods  to  the  inhabitants  and  friendly  Indians.  Such 
was  the  first  Bill  of  Rights  of  Illinois. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  upon  whom  devolved 
the  duty  of  selecting  the  commandant  of  the  country  of  Illinois, 
was  the  first  who  ever  held  that  office,  the  immortal  patriot, 
Patrick  Henry;  and  the  man  whom  he  chose  for  this  difficult  and 
responsible  position  was  John  Todd.  He  was  not  unknown  on 
the  frontier  nor  at  the  capital.  Born  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
educated  in  Virginia,  he  had  practised  law  in  the  latter  colony 
for  several  years,  when,  in  1775,  he  removed  to  the  Kentucky 
country.  He  was  one  of  those  who  met  at  Boonesboro',  in  the 
spring  of  that  year,  under  the  great  elm  tree,  near  the  fort,  to 
establish  the  proprietary  government  of  the  so-called  colony  of 
Transylvania,  comprising  more  than  half  of  the  modern  State  of 
of  Kentucky,  and  he  was  very  prominent  in  the  counsels  of  its 
House  of  Delegates  or  Representatives,  the  first  legislative  body 
organized  west  of  the  AUeghanies.  He  preempted  large  tracts  of 
land  near  the  present  city  of  Lexington,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  band  of  pioneers,  who,  while  encamped  on  its  site, 
heard  of  the  opening  battle  of  the  Revolution  in  the  far  East,  and 
named  their  infant  settlement  in  its  honor.  When  the  agents  of 
the  Kentucky  settlers  had  obtained  a  gift  of  powder  from  Virginia 


COL.   JOHN    TODDS   RF.C(  )R1  )-I>.()()K.  5  I 

for  the  defence  of  the  frontier,  in  the  following  year,  and  had 
brought  it  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Three  Islands,  Todd  led  a 
small  party  through  the  forests  to  transport  it  to  one  of  ihc 
forts,  but  was  beaten  back,  after  a  bloody  contest  with  the 
Indians.  Early  in  1777,  the  first  court  in  Kentucky  opened  its 
sessions  at  Harrisburg,  and  he  was  one  of  the  justices.  Shortly 
after,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  representatives  of  Kentucky  in 
the  legislature  of  Virginia,  and  went  to  the  capital  to  fulhl  this 
duty.  The  following  year  he  accompanied  (ieorge  Rogers  Clarke 
in  his  expedition  to  the  Illinois,  and  was  the  first  man  to  enter 
Fort  Gage,  at  Kaskaskia,  when  it  was  taken  from  the  Hritish, 
and  was  present  at  the  final  capture  of  Vincennes. 

Meanwhile  the  Act,  above  mentioned,  had  been  passed,  and 
the  Governor  had  no  difficulty  in  deciding  whom  to  ajjpoint 
County- Lieutenant  of  Illinois.  At  Williamsburg,  then  the  cai)ital 
of  the  Old  Dominion,  in  the  former  mansion  of  the  royal  rulers 
of  the  whilom  colony,  Patrick  Henry,  on  the  12th  of  December, 
1778,  indited  his  letter  of  appointment  to  John  Todd,  Esq.,  and 
entered  it  in  the  very  book  now  before  us.  It  occupies  the  first 
five  pages,  and  probably  is  in  Patrick  Henry's  handwriting.  At 
all  events  his  own  signature  is  subscribed  thereto.  This  letter  is 
not  such  a  one  as  territorial  governors  would  be  likely  to  receive 
in  these  later  days.  It  deals  with  higher  things  than  those  which 
occupy  the  modern  politician.  The  opening  paragraph  informs 
John  Todd,  Esq.,  that  by  virtue  of  the  Act  of  the  General 
Assembly,  which  establishes  the  County  of  Illinois,  he  is  ap- 
pointed County- Lieutenant,  or  Commandant,  there,  and  refers 
him  to  the  law  for  the  general  tenor  of  his  conduct.  It  con- 
tinues as  follows:  "The  grand  objects  which  are  disclosed_  to 
the  view  of  your  countrymen  will  prove  beneficial,  or  otherwise, 
according  to  the  value  and  abilities  of  those  who  are  called  to 
direct  the  aff"airs  of  that  remote  country.  The  present  cnsis» 
rendered  favorable  by  the  good  disposition  of  the  French  and 
Indians,  may  be  improved  to  great  purposes,  but  if,  unhappily,  it 
should  be  lost,  a  return  of  the  same  attachi^ents  to  us  may 
never  happen.  Considering,  therefore,  that  early  prejudices  are 
so  hard  to  wear  out,  you  will  take  care  to  cultivate  and  conciliate 
the  aftections  of  the  French  and  Indians."  *  '  *  ".-Mihciigh 
great  reliance  is  placed  on  vour  prudence  in  managing  the  peoi.le 
you  are  to  reside  among,  yet  considering  you  as  unacquamtec  in 
some  degree  with  their  genius,  usages,  and  manners,  as  well  a.s 
the  geography  of  the  country,  I  recommend  it  to  you  to  consult 
and  advise  with  the  most  intelligent  and  upright  persons  who 
may  fall  in  your  way." 


52  COL.   JOHN    TODD'S    RECORD-BOOK. 

His  relations  to  the  military,  under  Col.  Clark,  are  next  con- 
sidered: the  necessity  of  cooperation  with  and  aid  to  them,  in 
defence  against,  or  attack  upon,  hostile  British  and  Indians,  sum- 
ming up  with  the  general  direction,  to  consider  himself  "at  the 
head  of  the  civil  department,  and  as  such,  having  the  com- 
mand of  the  militia  who  are  not  to  be  under  the  command  of 
the  military,  until  ordered  out  by  the  civil  authority,  and  to  act 
in  conjunction  with  them."  He  is  advised  "on  all  occasions  to 
inculcate  on  the  people  the  value  of  liberty,  and  the  difference 
between  the  state  of  free  citizens  of  this  Commonwealth,  and 
that  of  slavery,  to  which  the  Illinois  was  destined,  and  that  they 
are  to  have  a  free  and  equal  representation,  and  an  improved 
jurisprudence."  His  care  must  be  to  remove  "the  grievances 
that  obstruct  the  happiness,  increase,  and  prosperity  of  that 
country,  and  his  constant  attention  to  see  that  the  inhabitants 
have  justice  administered."  He  is  to  discountenance  and  punish 
every  attempt  to  violate  the  property  of  the  Indians,  particularly 
in  their  land.  To  the  Spanish  commandant,  near  Kaskaskia,  he 
is  to  tender  friendshij:*  and  services,  and  cultivate  the  strictest 
connection  with  him  and  his  people,  and  a  letter  to  him,  from 
Governor  Henry,  Todd  is  to  deliver  in  person.  And  he  is 
warned  that  the  matters  given  him  in  charge  "are  singular  in 
their  nature  and  weighty  in  their  consequences  to  the  people 
immediately  concerned,  and  to  the  whole  State.  They  require 
the  fullest  exertion  of  ability  and  unwearied  diligence."  Then 
with  that  high  sense  of  justice  and  humanity  which  distinguished 
the  man,  Henry  turns  from  State  aftairs  to  right  the  wrongs  of  the 
helpless  wife  and  children  of  his  country's  enemy.  The  family 
of  Mr.  Rocheblave,  the  late  British  commandant  at  Kaskaskia, 
had  been  left  among  the  hostile  people  there,  while  the  husband 
and  father  was  a  prisoner  in  Virginia,  and  their  possessions  had 
been  confiscated.  Todd  is  informed  "that  they  must  not  sutler 
for  want  of  that  property  of  which  they  had  been  bereft  by  our 
troops:  it  is  to  be  restored  to  them,  if  possible;  if  this  can  not 
be  done,  the  public  must  su])port  them."  And  the  letter  con- 
cludes with  a  direction  to  send  an  express  once  in  three  months, 
bringing  a  general  account  of  affairs,  and  with  the  mention  of  a 
contemplated  plan  for  the  api)ointment  of  an  agent  to  supply  the 
Illinois  with  goods  on  public  account. 

Conciliation  of  the  newly  enfranchised  inhabitants,  selection  of 
competent  advisers,  defence  against  foreign  and  native  enemies, 
subordination  of  the  militarv  to  the  civil  arm  of  the  government, 
establishment  of  Republican  institutions,  administration  of  equal 
justice  to  all.  an  alliance  with  friendly  neighbors,  encouragement 


COL.   JOHN    Todd's    RliCORD-HOOK.  53 

of  trade,  and  the  exertion  by  the  commandant  of  unwearied 
abiUty,  dihgence,  and  zeal,  in  behalf  of  his  people;  such  are  the 
principal  heads  of  this  able  and,  for  its  time,  extraordinary  State 
paper.  It  shows  us  that  the  man  who  had  taken  the  grave 
responsibility  of  the  secret  instructions  which  led  to  the  capture 
of  the  Illinois  country,  was  competent  to  direct  the  next  step  in 
its  career.  He  could  wisely  govern  what  had  been  bravely  won. 
With  all  the  cares  of  a  new  State  engaged  in  a  war  for  its  inde- 
pendence resting  upon  his  shoulders,  proscribed  as  a  traitor  to 
the  Mother  Country,  and  writing  almost  within  sound  of  the  guns 
of  the  British  fleet  upon  the  James,  he  looked  with  calm  vision 
into  the  future,  and  laid  well  the  foundations  of  another  Com- 
monwealth beyond  the  Ohio. 

This  book,  made  precious  by  his  pen,  was  entrusted  to  a  faith- 
ful messenger,  who  carried  it  from  tidewater  across  the  mountains 
to  Fort  Pitt,  thence  down  the  Ohio,  until  he  met  with  his  destined 
recipient,  and  delivered  to  him  his  credentials.  It  is  supposed 
that  Todd  received  it  at  Vincennes,  then  known  to  Virginians  as 
St.  Vincent,  not  long  after  the  surrender  of  that  place,  on  Feb- 
ruary 24th,  1779,  and  thereupon  returned  to  the  Kentucky 
country  to  make  some  necessary  preparations  for  his  new  duties. 
and  possibly  to  enlist  some  of  the  soldiers  authorized  to  be 
raised  by  the  Act  under  which  he  was  appointed.  At  all  events, 
he  did  not  reach  the  Illinois  country  until  the  spring  of  1779.  as 
we  learn  from  the  journal  of  Colonel  (leorge  Rogers  Clark,  wht) 
says,  "The  civil  department  in  the  Illinois  had  heretofore  robbed 
me  of  too  much  of  my  time  that  ought  to  be  spent  in  military 
reflection.  I  was  now'  likely  to  be  relieved  by  Col.  John  ["odd. 
appointed  by  Government  for  that  purpose.  I  was  anxious  tor 
his  arrival,  and  happy  in  his  appointment,  as  the  greatest  mtimacv 

and  friendship  subsisted  between  us;   and  on  the  dav  of 

May,  {1779),  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  safely  landed  at 
Kaskaskias,  to  the  joy  of  every  person.  I  now  saw  myself 
happily  rid  of  a  piece  of  trouble  that  I  had  no  delight  in. 

So  came  the  new  governor  to  his  post,  the  ^bearer  ot  Republi- 
can institutions  to  a  land  and  a  people  but  just  freed  troni  the 
rule  of  a  foreign  king.  And  with  him  he  brought  this  very  book 
containing  in  the  memorable  letter  inscribed  in  its  pages  his  own 
credentials,  as  well  as  the  best  evidence  these  new  citizens  could 
have  that  they  were  subjects  no  longer.  This  was  no  ordmary 
arrival  at  the  goodly  French  village  of  Kaskaskia.  In  the  eigiu> 
years  of  its  existence,  it  had  seen  explorers  and  m'^^HMianes. 
priests  and  soldiers,  famous  travelers  and  men  ot  'I'g'^  ^^^f^*;' 
come  and  go,  but  never  before  one  sent  to  administer  the  la«s 


54 


COL.   JOHN    TODD  S   RECORD-BOOK. 


of  a  peoples'  government  for  the  benefit  of  the  governed.  We 
may  imagine  its  inhabitants  gathered  at  the  river  side  to  watch 
the  slow  approach  of  a  heavy  boat,  Hying  a  flag  still  strange  to 
them,  as  it  toils  against  the  current  to  the  end  of  its  long  voyage 
down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  Mississippi.  And  when  there  lands 
from  it  one  with  the  mien  of  authority,  (having,  perchance,  this 
book  under  his  arm),  they  are  ready  to  render  him  the  homage 
exacted  by  royal  governors,  and  here  and  there  a  voice  even 
xries,  "Vive  le  Roi."  And,  as  they  are  reminded  that  they  are 
under  a  free  government  now,  and  learn  that  the  new  comer  is 
their  own  County-Lieutenant,  on  their  way  back  to  the  village, 
we  may  hear  Francois  and  Baptiste  say  to  one  another,  "Who  is 
it  that  rules  over  us  now?"  and,  "What  is  this  free  government 
of  which  they  speak?"  "Is  it  a  good  thing,  think  you?"  Small 
blame  to  them  if  their  wits  were  puzzled.  Less  than  fourteen 
years  before  they  had  been  loyal  liegemen  to  King  Louis  of 
France;  then  came  a  detachment  of  kilted  Highlanders  and 
presto !  they  were  under  the  sway  of  King  George  of  Great 
Britain;  a  few  years  passed,  and  one  July  morning,  a  band  with 
long  beards  and  rifles  looked  down  from  the  heights  of  Fort  Gage 
and  raised  a  new  banner  over  them,  and  now  there  was  yet  another 
arrival,  which,  though  seemingly  peaceful,  might  mean  more  than 
appeared.  Perhaps  the  very  last  solution  of  the  mystery  which 
occurred  to  them,  was  that  thenceforth  they  were  to  take  part  in 
their  own  government. 

Whether  Todd  regarded  his  department  as  such  "a  piece  of 
trouble,"  as  Clark  found  it,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but 
certainly  he  addressed  himself  at  once  to  his  work.  Under  the 
clause  of  the  statute  which  authorized  him  to  appoint  and  com- 
mission deputy-commandants  and  militia-ofticers,  he  took  action, 
probably  as  soon  as  he  arrived,  and  recorded  it  in  his  book.  At 
page  6  is  the  first  entry  in  Todd's  handwriting,  which  reads  as 
follows: 

"Made  out  the  military  commissions  for  the  District  of  Kas- 
kaskia,  dated  May  14th,  1779: 

Richard  Winston,  Commandant,  as  Capt. 

Nicholas  Janis,  First  Co.  Capt. 

Baptiste  Charleville,  i  Lieut. 

Charles  Charleville,  2  Lieut. 

Michael  Godis,  Ensign. 

Joseph  Duplassy,  2d  Capt. 

Nicholas  le  Chanie,  i  I.ieut. 

Charles  Danee,  2  Lieut. 

Batiste  Janis,  Ensign." 


COL.   JOHN    TODD'S   RECDRD-Iiook.  55 

"  1 7th  May,  sent  a  Com.  of  Command  of  Prairie  du  Roclu-r 

and  Capt.  of  the  Militia  to  Jean  B.  Barbeaii. 
The  District  of  Kohokia: 
Francois  Trotter,  Comnd't. 

TOURANGEAU,   Capt.    I. 

Beaulieu,  Capt.  2. 

GuRADiN,  Lieut. 

P.  Marthir,  Lieut. 

Sanfaron,  Ensign. 

Comns  dated  14th  May,  1779,  3d  year  of  the  Commonwcahh." 

This  was  the  earhest  organization  of  a  mihtia  force  proper,  in 
this  region,  and  these  officers  were  the  first  of  the  long  line, 
adorned  by  many  brilliant  names,  of  those  who  have  held  Illinois 
commissions.  There  was  significance,  too,  in  the  concluding  of 
this  entry  with  the  words,  "Third  year  of  the  Commonwealth." 
It  meant  that  in  this  "remote  country,"  as  Patrick  Henry  called 
it,  men  felt  the  change  from  subjects  to  freemen  then  being 
wrought  by  the  great  Revolution,  and  that  they  were  playing  a 
part  in  it. 

And  this  is  emphasized  in  the  succeeding  minute. 

Todd  appears  to  have  next  put  in  force  the  statutory  provision 
that  all  civil  officers  were  to  be  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the 
citizens  in  each  district,  and  on  pages  7  and  8  he  records  the 
"List  of  the  Court  of  Kaskaskia,  the  Court  of  Kohokias,  and  the 
Court  of  St,  Vincennes,"  and  adds,  ''(7s  elected  by  the  peopled  As 
elected  by  the  people,  and  not  as  appointed  by  a  king — as 
chosen  by  the  citizens  of  each  district,  and  not  by  the  whim  of 
some  royal  minister,  thousands  of  miles  away,  across  the  sea. 
This  was  indeed  a  change.  For  more  than  half  a  century  the 
the  settlements  at  the  Illinois  had  known  a  court  and  a  judge. 
But  the  laws,  and  the  administrators  thereof,  had  been  imported 
from  a  distant  kingdom,  and  with  the  framing  of  the  one  or  the 
selection  of  the  other,  they  had  had  nothing  whatever  to  do. 
And,  without  doubt,  the  election  here  recorded  was  their  first  ex- 
ercise of  the  rights  of  citizens  of  a  republic,  and  the  first  exercise 
of  such  rights  within  the  territory  of  lUinois.  In  these  lists  appear 
a  number  of  names  of  more  or  less  note  in  the  old  time,  and 
some  of  those  already  recited  in  the  militia  appointments. 
Richard  Winston.  Deputy-Commandant  at  Kaskaskia,  filled  also 
the  office  of  Sherift'  of  that  district,  and  Jean  K.  Barbeau  found 
no  inconsistency  between  his  duties  as  Deputy-Commandant  at 
Prairie  du  Rocher,  and  those  of  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court 
of  his  district.  Nicholas  Janis  and  Charles  Charleville  were  also 
liable  to  be  called  from  the  Kaskaskia  bench  to  do  military  duty. 


56  COL.   JOHN    TODD's    RECORD-BOOK. 

and  at  Cahokia,  five  of  the  seven  judges  held  officers'  commis- 
sions. This  state  of  things  may  have  been  occasioned  by  the 
scarcity  of  men  to  take  the  new  positions,  so  that  "there  were 
offices  enough  to  go  around"  and  to  give  some  public -spirited 
citizens  two  apiece.  If  so,  the  modern  office-seeker  might  well 
sigh  for  those  good  old  times.  An  unusual  circumstance  appears 
in  connection  with  the  court  of  Vincennes.  Against  the  name 
of  one  Cardinal,  elected  by  the  people  as  a  judge,  Todd  has 
written  "refused  to  serve."  This  is  believed  to  be  the  only 
instance  in  our  annals  of  a  refusal  to  take  an  office.  And  it  is 
feared  that  this  unique  individual  left  no  descendants.  No  other 
of  the  name  appears  in  any  subsequent  record  of  the  territory,  so 
far  as  known.  It  is  possible  that  we  ought  to  share  the  glory  of 
this  rara  avis  with  the  citizens  of  Indiana,  since  Vincennes  is 
within  the  limits  of  that  State.  But,  as  he  was  at  the  time  of  this 
unexampled  refusal  a  citizen  of  Illinois,  we  should  strenuously 
claim  him  as  one  whose  like  will  ne'er  be  seen  again.  After  the 
list  of  the  court  of  Vincennes,  Todd  notes  his  militia  appoint- 
ments at  that  place,  the  Chief -Justice  P.  Legras  being  also 
appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  the  first  Associate-Justice, 
Major.  Opposite  two  of  the  names  is  written,  "rank  not 
settled,"  as  if  already  that  jealousy,  which  is  the  bane  of  the 
profession  of  arms,  had  sprung  up.  And  a  number  of  blanks 
are  left,  apparently  to  await  the  determination  of  that  controversy, 
which  seem  never  to  have  been  filled. 

Having  organized  the  military  and  judicial  departments  of  his 
government,  the  new  commandant  appears  next  to  have  given  his 
attention  to  the  encouragement  of  business.  On  page  1 1  of  this 
book,  appears  a  License  for  Trade,  permitting  "Richard  M'Car- 
thy,  Gentleman,  to  traffick  and  merchandize,  with  all  the  liege 
subjects  and  Friends  of  the  United  States  of  America,  of  what 
nation  soever  they  be,  and  to  erect  Factories  and  Stores  at  any 
convenient  place  or  places  he  shall  think  proper  within  the  Com- 
monwealth."" A  careful  proviso  is  made  that  "by  virtue  hereof 
no  pretence  shall  be  made  to  trespass  upon  the  effects  or  property 
of  individuals"';  and  the  license  is  given  under  the  hand  and 
seal  of  John  Todd,  at  Kaskaskia,  the  5th  June,  1779,  in  the  3rd 
year  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  financial  question  was  the  next  to  claim  the  attention  of 
the  busy  County-Lieutenant,  and  he  grappled  with  it  sturdily.  It 
was  now  the  fourth  year  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  the 
peculiar  disadvantages  of  the  continental  currency,  which  had 
been  severely  felt  at  the  East,  began  to  be  appreciated  at  the 
West  as  well.     But  John  Todd  did  not  hesitate  to  confront  this 


COL.   JOHN    TODU'S    RLC()Rl)-li(  m  .K. 


57 


evil,  and,  at  any  rate,  devised  a  plan  for  its  correction.  Within  a 
month  of  his  arrival  at  Kaskaskia,  on  the  nth  of  June.  i;-.;.  he 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  court  of  Kaskaskia,  whicli  appear^  on 
page  12  of  his  Record -Book.  He  informs  it  that  "the  only 
method  America  has  to  support  the  present  just  war  is  Ity  her 
credit,  which  credit  consists  of  her  bills  emitted  from  the  dilfcrcnt 
treasuries  by  which  she  engages  to  pay  the  bearer,  at  a  certain 
time,  gold  and  silver  in  exchange;  that  there  is  no  friend  to 
American  Independence,  who  has  any  judgment,  but  soon 
expects  to  see  it  equal  to  gold  and  silver,  but  "that  merely  from 
its  uncommon  quantity,  and  in  proportion  to  it,  arises  the  com- 
plaint of  its  want  of  credit.  And  one  only  remedy  remains 
within  his  power,  which  is  to  receive,  on  behalf  of  government, 
such  sums  as  the  people  shall  be  induced  to  lend  upon  a  sure 
fund,  and  thereby  decrease  the  quantity.''  He  states  that  the 
mode  of  doing  this  is  already  planned,  and  recjuests  the  concur- 
rence and  assistance  of  the  judges.  His  zeal  for  the  cause  led 
him  slightly  astray  when  he  predicted  that  these  bills  would  soon 
be  equal  to  gold  and  silver,  since,  in  the  following  year,  conti- 
nental money  was  worth  just  two  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  never 
became  more  valuable.  But  in  other  respects  his  scheme  was 
not  so  erroneous.  He  did  not  indulge  in  the  delusion  that  all 
troubles  could  be  removed  by  an  unlimited  issue  of  paper  money. 
On  the  contrary,  he  favored  the  retirement  of  a  jiortion  of  that 
in  circulation,  and  of  a  kind  of  redemption  of  the  public 
promises  to  pay.  On  page  14  is  set  forth  at  length,  **Plan  for 
borrowing  S33S3}i  dollars  of  Treasury  notes,  both  belonging  to 
this  State  and  the  United  States."'  The  preamble  recites  that 
owing  to  no  other  reason  than  the  prodigious  quantity  of  treasury 
notes,  now  in  circulation,  the  value  of  almost  every  commodity 
has  risen  to  most  enormous  prices,  the  preserving  the  credit  of 
the  said  bills  by  reducing  the  quantity,  requires  some  immediate 
remedy.  And  it  is  therefore  declared  that  21,000  acres  of  land. 
belonging  to  tlie  Commonwealth,  shall  be  laid  off  on  the  bank  of 
the  Mississippi  in  the  district  of  Cahokia,  1000  acres  to  be 
reserved  for  a  town,  and  the  remainder  to  constitute  a  fund;  and 
that  the  lender  of  money  shall  take  a  certificate  for  the  sum, 
entitling  him  to  demand,  within  tv.-o  years,  a  title  to  his  \>ro\toT- 
tion  of  the  land  in  said  fund,  or  the  sum  originally  advanced  in 
gold  and  silver,  with  five  per  cent  interest  per  annum.  It  is 
prudently  provided  that  the  State  shall  have  the  option  of  giving 
land  or  money,  and  to  further  protect  a  paternal  government 
against  any  undue  advantage  being  taken  of  it  by  its  sons, 
notice  is  given   that  a  deduction  shall  be  made  for  all  money 


58  COL.   JOHN   TODD'S    RECORD-BOOK. 

hereafter  discovered  to  be  counterfeited.  Then  follow  the  com- 
mencement of  a  French  translation  of  the  plan,  a  copy  of  the 
instructions  to  the  Commissioner  for  borrowing  money  upon  this 
fund,  which  direct  him  to  keep  every  man's  money  by  itself,  and 
the  form  of  receipt  to  be  issued.  Henry  H.  Crutcher  appears  to 
have  been  appointed  such  Commissioner,  and  his  bond,  with 
George  Slaughter  and  John  Roberts  as  sureties  to  Mr.  John 
Todd,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  County  of  Illinois,  in  the 
penalty  of  $33,333^3  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  money,  is  next 
recorded  under  date  of  June  14th,  1779. 

On  the  same  date,  this  energetic  '•Commander-in-Chief"  ad- 
dresses himself  to  the  subject  of  the  land  under  his  jurisdiction, 
and  the  title  thereto.  He  issues  a  proclamation  strictly  enjoining 
all  persons  from  making  any  new  settlements  on  the  flat  lands 
within  one  league  of  the  rivers  Mississippi,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and 
Wabash,  except  in  the  manner  and  form  of  settlements  as  here- 
tofore made  by  the  French  inhabitants ;  and  every  inhabitant  is 
required  to  lay  before  the  persons  appointed  in  each  district  for 
that  purpose  a  memorandum  of  his  or  her  land  with  their  vouch- 
ers for  the  same.  Warning  is  given  that  the  number  of  adven- 
turers who  will  soon  run  over  this  country,  renders  the  above 
method  necessary,  as  well  as  to  ascertain  the  vacant  land  as  to 
guard  against  trespasses  which  will  be  committed  on  land  not  of 
record.  The  object  of  this  step  evidently  was  not  to  discourage 
actual  settlers,  but  to  prevent  the  taking  up  of  large  tracts  of 
land  by  speculators;  and  it  shows  both  wisdom  and  foresight  on 
the  part  of  the  head  of  the  Government. 

The  graver  duties  associated  with  that  position  were  quickly  to 
devolve  upon  John  Todd,  and  on  page  18  of  his  Record-Book  is  ' 
inscribed  an  entry,  which  reads  very  strangely  at  the'  present  day. 
It  is  Terbatijn  as  follows  : 

"Illinois,  to  wit:  To  Richard  Winston,  Esq.,  Sheriff  in  chief  of 
the  District  of  Kaskaskia. 

Negro  Manuel,  a  Slave,  in  your  custody,  is  condemned  by  the 
Court  of  Kaskaskia,  after  having  made  honorable  Fine  at  the 
Door  of  the  Church,  to  be  chained  to  a  post  at  the  Water  Side 
and  there  to  be  burnt  alive  and  his  ashes  scattered,  as  appears 
to  me  by  Record.  This  Sentence  you  are  hereby  required  to  put 
in  execution  on  tuesday  next  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
this  shall  be  your  warrant.  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  at 
Kaskaskia  the  13th  day  of  June  in  the  third  year  of  the  Com- 
monwealth." 

This  is  a  grim  record,  and  reveals  a  dark  chapter  in  the  early 
history  of  IlHnois.     It  is  not  surprising  that  some  one  has  drawn 


COL.   JOHN    TODD'S   RECORl  )-l;()(  )K.  59 

heavy  lines  across  it  as  if  to  efface  it  forever.  It  is  startling  to 
reflect  that  barely  one  hundred  years  ago,  witliin  the  territory 
now  composing  our  State,  a  court  of  law  deliberately  scntcnt  ed  a 
liuman  being  to  be  burned  alive!  It  is  possible  that  the  at- 
tempted cancellation  of  the  entry  may  mean  that  the  warrant  was 
revoked.  And  so  let  us  hope  for  the  sake  of  humanity.  No 
other  evidence,  so  far  as  known,  of  this  peculiar  case  e.xists.  lUit 
it  is  palpable  that  this  inhuman  penalty  was  actually  fixed  by  the 
court,  and  as  the  statute  deprived  the  commandant  of  the  power 
to  pardon  in  such  cases,  it  is  more  probable  that  the  .sentence 
was  actually  executed.  The  cruel  form  of  death,  the  color  of 
the  unfortunate  victim,  and  the  scattering  of  the  ashes,  all  seem 
to  indicate  that  this  was  one  of  the  instances  of  the  imagined 
crime  of  Voudouism  or  Negro  Witchcraft,  for  which  it  is  known 
that  some  persons  suffered  in  the  Illinois  country  about  this 
time.  Reynolds,  in  his  Pioneer  History,  says,  "In  Cahokia 
about  the  year  1790,  this  superstition  got  the  ujjperhand  of 
reason,  and  several  poor  African  slaves  were  immolated  at  the 
shrine  of  ignorance  for  this  imaginary  offence.  An  African  negro, 
called  Moreau,  was  hung  for  this  crime  on  a  tree  not  far  south- 
east of  Cahokia.  It  is  stated  that  he  had  said  he  poisoned  his 
master,  but  his  mistress  was  too  strong  for  his  necromancy." 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  a  correct  statement  of  the  facts, 
although  the  date  of  their  occurrence  is  erroneously  given.  For 
on  the  next  page  of  this  Record-Book  appears  Todd"s  order  for 
the  detail  of  a  guard  for  this  very  negro  Moreau  to  the  place  of 
execution,  dated  June  15th,  1779,  which,  of  course  goes  to  show 
the  probability  of'  the  infliction  of  the  penalty  above  mentioned 
in  the  case  of  the  negro,  Manuel.  This  order  in  regard  to 
Moreau,  is  as  follows : 

"To  Capt.  Nicholas  Janis. 

You  are  hereby  required  to  call  upon  a  party  of  your  militia  to 
guard  Moreau,  /a  slave  condemned  to  execution,  up  to  the  town 
of  Kohos.  Put  them  under  an  officer.  Thev  shall  be  entitled 
pay  rashtions  and  refreshment  during  the  Time  they  shall  be 
upon  Duty  to  be  certifyed  hereafter  by  you. 

I  am  sir  your  hble  servant, 

JNO.    TODD. 
15th  June  1779. 

I  recommend  4  or  5  from  your 
Compy  and  as  many  from  Capt.  Placey  and 
consult  Mr.  Lacroix  about  the  time  necessary. 

I.  T."  .         . 

Nicholas  Janis  was,  as  we  have  seen.  Captain  ot  the  first  C  om- 


6o  COL.   JOHN    TODD'S    RECORD-BOOK. 

pany  of  Militia  at  Kaskaskia,  and  the  Captain  Placey  mentioned 
is,  undoubtedly,  Joseph  Duplessis,  Captain  of  the  second  Com- 
pany at  the  same  place.  Kohos.  was  the  familiar  abbreviation  of 
Cahokia,  and  the  Mr.  Le  Croix,  who  was  to  be  consulted,  must 
have  been  J.  B.  L.  Croix,  first  sheriff  of  the  Cahokia  district,  by 
whom,  no  doubt,  the  execution  of  Moreau  was  conducted.  These 
two  entries,  therefore,  confirm  Reynold's  account  of  this  matter, 
the  accuracy  of  which  has  sometimes  been  questioned,  and  give 
to  old  Cahokia  the  sad  distinction  of  having  been  a  Western  1 
Salem.  " 

The   different    subjects    thus   far  included    in   this    interesting 
Record-Book,  were  all  dealt  with  by  Todd  between  May  14th 
and  June   15th,   1779.     He  certainly  was  not  idle,  nor  did   he 
lack  for  important  business  during  the  first  month  of  his  admin- 
istration.    His  duties  appear  then  to  have  called  him  away  from  ■ 
Kaskaskia,  probably  to   Vincennes,  to  make   the  appointments 
there   already   noticed.      And    as    he    was    about    to   leave,   he- 
addressed  a  letter  to  his  deputy-commandant,  Richard  Winston,  ■ 
which  is  sufficiently  interesting  to  be  quoted  entire.  H 

"Sir:  During  my  absence  the  command  will  devolve  upon  you  * 
as  commander  of  Kaskaskia. — if  Colo.  Clark  should  want  any- 
thing more  for  his  expedition,  consult  the  members  of  the  court 
upon  the  best  mode  of  proceeding,  if  the  people  will  not  spare 
wilingly,  if  in  their  power,  you  must  press  it,  valuing  the  property 
by  Two  men  upon  Oath. — let  the  military  have  no  pretext  for 
forcing  property — When  you  order  it  and  the  people  will  not  find 
it,  then  it  will  be  Time  for  them  to  Interfere. — by  all  means  Keep 
up  a  Good  Understanding  with  Colo.  Clark  and  the  Officers. — if 
this  is  not  the  Case  you  will  be  unhappy.     I  am  sir 

Yr  Hble  Servt  JOHN  TODD 

June  15,  1779." 

The  expedition  of  Colonel  Clark,  referred  to  in  this  letter,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  that  planned  against  the  British  at 
Detroit,  which  he  and  Governor  Henry  were  very  anxious  to 
undertake.  They  were  ultimately  prevented  by  lack  of  means. 
Todd's  determination  to  keep  the  military  in  subordination  to 
the  civil  power  is  very  plain,  but  at  the  same  time  his  doubt  of 
his  success,  and  his  appreciation  of  Clark's  peculiarities,  are 
curiously  shown  by  the  concluding  paragraph  of  this  letter. 
When  he  tells  Richard  Winston  by  all  means  to  keep  up  a  good 
understanding  with  Colo.  Clark,  and  that,  if  this  is  not  the  case, 
he  will  be  unhappy,  he  evidently  is  speaking  of  that  of  which  he 
knows  by  personal  experience. 

Upon  his  return  to  Kaskaskia,  July  27th,  1779,  the  resolutions 


COL.  JOHN  TODD'S  Rr:coRi)-r.o(>K.  6i 

of  Congress  concerning  the  issues  of  the  continental  moncv, 
dated  May  20th,  1777,  and  April  nth.  177S,  engaged  his  atten- 
tion. And  he  put  forth  a  short  proclamation  in  I-'rench  and 
English,  both  copies  being  duly  transcribed  in  his  Record  at 
pages  19  and  20,  notifying  persons  having  money  of  those  issues 
that  unless  they  shall  as  soon  as  possible  pay  the  same  into  some 
continental  treasury,  the  money  must  sink  on  their  hands,  and  that 
the  vouchers  must  be  certified  by  himself  or  some  deputy-com- 
mandant of  this  county,  and  have  reference  to  the  bundle  of 
money  numbered  and  sealed.  Whether  this  Congressional  plan 
superceded  that  of  Todd's  own  devising,  we  do  not  know,  but  at 
all  events  we  hear  nothing  further  of  his  land  fund. 

It  would  appear  that  during  his  brief  absence,  the  newly- 
appointed  court  at  Kaskaskia  had  not  transacted  business  with 
the  diligence  and  celerity  required  by  John  Todd.  The  judges 
were  all  elected  from  among  the  French  settlers,  and  we  may 
assume  that  their  easy-going  ways  did  not  find  favor  with  the 
busy  man  from  beyond  the  Ohio.  They  seem  to  have  adjourned 
court  to  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  too  long  a  day,  and  his 
consequent  action  savors  somewhat  of  a  direct  interference  of 
the  executive  with  the  judiciary,  but,  doubtless,  was  eft'ective. 
On  page  21  we  read  the  following  document: 

"To  Gabriel  Cerre  &c.  Esqrs.  Judges  of  the  Court  for  the 
District  of  Kaskaskia: 

You  are  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  hold  and  constitute 
a  court  on  Satterday,  the  21st  of  July  at  the  usual  i)lace  of  hold- 
ing court  within  yr  District,  any  adjournment  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  Provided  that  no  suitor  or  party  be  comi)eled 
to  answear  any  process  upon  said  Day  unless  properly  summoned 
by  the  Clark  and  Sheriff.  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  at  Kas- 
kaskia July  31st  1779.     JOHN  TODD." 

He  was  tender  of  the  rights  of  parties,  but  proposed  that  the 
judges  should  attend  to  their  work.  Doubtless,  Gabriel  and  his 
associate's  grumbled  not  a  little  at  this  interference  with  their 
comfort,  and  insisted,  the  one  to  the  other,  that  they  had  not 
accepted  the  judicial  office  upon  any  such  understanding.  Pleas- 
ure first  and  business  afterwards,  had  always  been  the  rule  at 
Kaskaskia,  and  to  compel  a  man  to  hold  court  when  he  preferred 
to  smoke  his  pipe  in  the  sun,  or  go  fishing,  was  an  unprecedented 
hardship.  But  all  the  same,  we  may  be  very  sure  that  they  did 
"hold  and  constitute  a  court  on  Satterday  the  21st  of  July,  any 
adjournment  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

Mindful  of  Governor  Henry's  advice  to  cultivate  a  connection 
with    the  Spanish   commandant,  near    Kaskaskia,  Commandant 


62  COL.   JOHN    TODD'S    RECORD-BOOK. 

Todd  sends  a  letter,  in  French,  on  August  9th,  1779,  to  Monsieur 
Cartabonne,  commanding  at  St.  Genevieve,  and  a  letter  to  same 
effect  to  Monsieur  Leyba,  at  St.  Louis.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  all  the  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  then  belonged  to 
Spain,  at  that  time  at  war  with  Britian,  and  was  garrisoned 
by  her  troops.  In  these  letters  he  proposes  an  arrangement 
concerning  the  commerce  of  the  Illinois  country,  for  the  mutual 
advantage  of  their  respective  governments,  his  Catholic  Majesty 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  State  of  Virginia  on  the  other,  and  for 
the  disadvantage  of  their  common  enemy,  the  British.  He 
informs  the  Spaniards  that  Colonel  Clark  has  not  yet  departed 
from  Post  Vincennes,  and  further  states  that,  if  they  are  attacked 
by  any  enemies,  and  he  can  be  of  service  to  them,  he  is  ordered 
by  the  Governor  of  Virginia  to  give  aid  to  them. 

The  slow-moving  French  settlers  seem  to  have  been  in  other 
ways  a  trial,  and  probably  were  dilatory  in  providing  supplies  for 
the  troops,  which  were  soon  expected  from  Virginia.  And  on 
Aug.  nth,  Todd  enters,  on  page  22  of  his  Book,  a  brief  address, 
in  which  the  inhabitants  of  Kaskaskia  are,  for  the  last  time,  invited 
to  contract  with  the  persons  appointed  for  provision,  especially 
"Flower,"  for  the  troops  who  Avill  shortly  arrive.  He  says,  'T 
hope  they  will  use  properly  the  Indulgence  of  a  mild  Govern- 
ment. If  I  shall  be  obliged  to  give  the  military  permission  to 
press  It  will  be  a  disadvantage,  and  what  ought  more  to  influence 
Freemen,  it  will  be  a  dishonor  to  the  people."'  It  is  evident  that 
Baptiste,  Francois,  and  the  rest,  while  willing  enough  to  be 
"Freemen,"  on  their  money  still  preferred  a  king.  And  the 
supplies  which  they  would  have  readily  furnished  in  exchange 
for  coins  stamped  with  the  head  of  George  III.  or  Louis  XV., 
were  not  forthcoming  when  continental  currency  was  offered  in 
return,  despite  all  of  Todd's  efforts  in  that  behalf  It  is  said 
that  the  early  French  inhabitants  were  so  puzzled  by  the  machin- 
ery of  free  government,  that  they  longed  for  the  return  of  the 
despotic  authority  of  their  military  commandants.  If  so,  there 
must  have  been  a  familiar  sound  about  this  brief  address  which 
might  have  made  them  think  their  good  old  times  had  come 
again.  After  this  he  copies  an  order  upon  the  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  favor  of  J.  B.  La  Croix,  the  Sheriff  of  Cahokia,  in 
payment  of  supplies  furnished,  probably  one  of  the  few,  if  not 
the  only  one  who  paid  any  attention  to  the  address. 

The  Commandant  found  it  necessary  to  resort  to  more  string- 
ent measures.  And  on  August  2 2d,  he  issued  another  proclama- 
tion laying  an  embargo  upon  the  exportation  of  any  provisions 
whatsoever,   by   land    or   water,   for   sixty   days,  unless   he    has 


COL.   JOHN    TODD'S    RKCORD-IK  »()K.  63 

assurances  before  that  time  that  a  sufficient  stock  is  laid  up  for 
the  troops,  or  sufficient  security  is  given  to  the  cfintractors  for  its 
delivery  when  required.  And  the  offender  is  to  be  subjected  to 
imprisonment  for  one  month  and  forfeit  value  of  such  exported 
provision.  This  he  records  in  English  and  in  French,  apparently 
having  special  reference  to  those  of  the  latter  race.  And  seem- 
ingly becoming  weary  of  the  delay  of  the  jieople  as  to  the 
surrender  of  the  continental  money,  he  gives  notice,  in  l)oth 
languages,  that  after  August  23d,  1779,  no  more  certificates  will 
be  granted  at  Kaskaskia  to  persons  producing  the  called-in 
emissions.  It  does  not  appear  whether  this  delay  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  prudent  French  setders  really  had  no  continental 
money  on  hand,  or  to  their  wish  to  get  .some  return  for  what 
little  they  did  own,  and  they  were  unable  to  see  any  such  outcome 
from  a  deposit  in  a  continental  treasury. 

October  7th,  1779,  he  makes  a  note  of  an  order  given  to 
Patrick  M'Crosky  on  the  Gov't  for  140  Dollars  being  No.  2 
issued  "by  a  certificate  from  Mr.  Helm."  This  Mr.  Helm  was 
one  of  Clark's  trusty  lieutenants,  and  was,  probably,  then  com- 
manding the  fort  at  Vincennes. 

A  short  and  simple  method  of  forfeiting  realty  to  the  State,  is 
illustrated  in  the  proceedings  set  forth  on  pages  25  and  26.  On 
the  4th  of  October,  1779,  a  notification  was  given  at  the  door  of 
the  church  of  Kaskaskia,  that  the  half- a- lot  above  the  church, 
joining  Picard  on  the  east,  and  Langlois  on  the  west,  unless  some 
person  should  appear  and  support  their  claim  to  the  said  lot 
within  three  days,  would  be  condemned  to  the  use  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. On  the  13th  day  of  October,  1779,  accordingly. 
John  Todd,  under  his  hand  and  seal,  at  Kaskaskia,  i)roclainied 
that  after  publicly  calling  any  person  or  persons  to  shew  any 
claim  they  might  have  to  said  lot,  and  no  one  appearing  to 
claim  the  same  as  against  the  Commonwealth  of  \'irginia,  he 
declares  and  adjudges  the  said  lot  to  belong  to  the  said  Com- 
monwealth, and  that  all  persons,  whatsoever,  be  thenceforth 
debarred  and  precluded  forever  from  any  claim  thereto. 

The  heading  of  the  following  entry  in  this  book  is,  "Copy  of 
a  Grant  to  Colonel  Montgomery,''  but  the  remainder  of  that 
page,  and  one  or  two  more,  have  been  deliberately  torn  out. 
The  explanation  of  this  mutilation  may  be  found  in  a  report 
made,  in  18 10,  by  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  Congress  to 
examine  the  claims  of  persons  claiming  lands  in  the  district  of 
Kaskaskia.  from  which  it  appears  that  many  of  the  ancient 
evidences  of  title  had  been  deliberately  destroyed  m  the  interest 
of  speculators  claiming  under  forged  deeds  or  perjured  testimony. 


64  COL.   JOHN   TODD'S   RECORD-BOOK. 

Some  one,  interested  in  opposition  to  this  grant,  may  have  had 
access  to  this  book  years  after  the  entry,  when  the  land  had 
become  valuable,  and  attempted  to  defeat  the  title  in  this  way. 
The  Colonel  Montgomery,  named  in  it,  was  probably  the  Captain 
Montgomery  who  came  to  the  Illinois  with  Clark,  and  rendered 
good  service  on  that  expedition.  He  is  described  as  a  jovial 
Irishman,  whom  Clark  fell  in  with  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  on 
his  way  down  the  river,  and  who  readily  joined  in  the  perilous 
adventure,  from  pure  love  of  fighting.  He  commanded  the 
garrison  of  Fort  Gage,  at  Kaskaskia,  after  its  surrender  by  the 
British. 

This  is  the  last  entry  in  the  book  in  Todd's  handwriting. 

We  know  that  he  continued  to  hold  his  position  as  Command- 
ant and  CountyT.ieutenant  at  the  Illinois  for  some  three  years 
more,  devoting  most  of  iiis  time  to  its  affairs.  And  in  that 
period  he  made  the  difficult  and  often  dangerous  journey  between 
his  distant  post  and  the  Kentucky  settlements,  or  Virginia,  two 
or  more  times  in  every  year.  In  1779,  Virginia  ordered  two 
regiments  to  be  raised  for  service  in  its  western  counties,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  Todd  was  appointed  Colonel  of  one  of  them.. 
In  the  spring  of  1780,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  from  the  count) 
of  Kentucky  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  and  was  married, 
while  attending  its  session  of  that  year.  In  the  fall,  he  returnee 
to  Kentucky,  and,  having  established  his  bride  in  the  fort  alj 
Lexington,  resumed  his  journey  to  Illinois.  It  is  worthy  o^ 
remark  that  the  foundation  of  Ttansylvania  LTniversity,  the  first 
institution  of  learning  west  of  the  mountains,  is  attributed  to  the 
State  aid  obtained  from  the  Virginia  Legislature  by  his  exertions 
in  its  behalf  In  November,  1780,  the  county  of  Kentucky  was! 
divided  into  the  three  counties  of  Fayette,  Lincoln,  and  Jeffer-] 
son,  and  in  the  summer  of  1781,  Governor  Thomas  Jeft'erson 
appointed  Todd,  Colonel  of  Fayette  .County,  Daniel  Boone^ 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Thomas  Marshall,  (father  of  Chief-Justice 
Marshall),  Surveyor.  In  December,  1781,  Todd  secured  a  town 
lot  at  Lexington,  and  in  May,  1782,  he  was  made  one  of  the 
trustees  of  Lexington  by  Act  of  Virginia.  In  the  summer  of  that 
year  he  visited  Richmond,  on  the  business  of  the  Illinois  country, 
where  it  is  said  he  had  concluded  to  permanently  reside,  and 
stopped  at  Lexington  on  his  return.  While  here,  an  Indian 
attack  upon  a  frontier  station  summoned  the  militia  to  arms,  and 
he,  as  Senior  Colonel,  took  command  of  the  little  force  of  180 
men  who  went  in  pursuit  of  the  retreating  savages.  It  included 
Daniel  Boone  and  many  other  pioneers  of  note,  sixty  of  their 
number  being  commissioned  officers.     At  the  Blue  Licks,  on  the 


COL.  JOHN    TODD'S    RliCORD-liOOR.  65 

1 8th  of  August,  1782,  the  enemy  was  overtaken,  and  the  head- 
long courage  of  those  who  would  not  observe  the  prudent 
counsels  of  Todd  and  Boone,  precipitated  an  action  which  was 
very  disastrous  to  the  whites.  One-third  of  those  who  went  into 
battle  were  killed,  a  number  wounded  and  several  made  prisoners. 
And  among  the  heroes  who  laid  down  their  H\es  that  da\-  was 
Colonel  John  Todd.  He  was  shot  through  the  body  while  gal- 
lantly fighting  at  the  head  of  his  men,  and,  says  an  eye-witness. 
"When  last  seen  he  was  reeling  in  his  saddle,  while  the  blood 
gushed  in  profusion  from  his  wounds." 

A  few  other  minutes  were  made  in  this  book  in  Colonel  Todd's 
life-time,  which  are  not  in  his  handwriting.  On  two  pages,  near 
the  end,  is  kept  his  "Peltry  Account,"'  which  is  charged  with  his 
drafts  on  the  Virginia  Government,  in  favor  of  Monsieur  Beaure- 
garde,  to  the  amount  of  $30,000,  dated  at  St.  Louis,  September 
14th,  1779,  the  value  thereof  having,  apparently,  been  received. 
one-third  in  paper  currency  and  two-thirds  in  peltries.  Tlie 
account  is  credited  with  payments  made  for  supplies  •  for  the 
garrison  at  Kaskaskia,  purchased  by  Colonel  John  Montgomery, 
and  for  the  garrison  at  Cahokia,  purchased  by  Capt.  M'Carthy, 
probably  that  Richard  M'Carthy,  gentleman,  to  wliom  a  "License 
for  Trade"  was  granted,  as  we  have  seen.  The  principal  item  in 
these  supphes  seems  to  have  been  a  beverage  called  "Tatlia," 
which  was  laid  in  by  the  hogshead.  On  page  28  is  an  oath  of 
allegiance  taken  by  one  James  Moore,  at  Kaskaskia,  to  the 
United  States  of  America,  on  July  loth,  1872,  while  the  States 
were  still  under  the  articles  oY  confederation,  showing  the  form 
then  used.  He  renounces  all  fidehty  to  King  George  the  Third. 
■  King  of  Great  Britain,  his  heirs  and  successors,  and  agrees  to 
make  known  to  some  one  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  United 
States,  all  treasonous,  all  traitorous  conspiracies  which  may  come 
to  his  knowledge  to  be  formed  against  said  United  States,  or  any 
one  of  them. 

Duririg  Todd's  later  absences  from  his  government,  a  French 
gentleman  named  Demunbrunt,  appears  to  have  been  his  deputy 
and  acting-commandant  in  his  place.  And  it  is  curious  to  notice 
on  the  inside  of  one  of  the  covers  of  this  book  a  little  penman- 
ship, which  may  indicate  that  this  individual  was  rather  proud  of 
his  temporary  dignity.  It  reads  "Nota  bene,  Nous  Thimothe 
Demunbrunt  Lt.  Comdt  Par  interim  &c  &c;"  and  it  seems  as  if 
Thimothe  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  see  how  his  name 
and  title  would  look,  and  so  wrote  it  out  in  a  tuie,  bold  hand 
for  all  men  to  see  for  a  hundred  years  to  come.  On  the  last 
page  are  two  memoranda,  apparently  in   the  same  bold  hand. 

5 


66  COL.  JOHN    TODD'S   RECORD-BOOK. 

which,  in  pencil  underneath,  are  said  to  be  by  Thimothe  Demun- 
brunt  Lt.  Comdt  par  interim,  and,  doubless,  this  is  correct. 
They  read:  "February  1782,  Arived  a  small  tribe  of  the  Wabash 
Indians  Imploring  the  paternal  succour  of  their  Father  the  Bos- 
tonians,  having  their  patent  from  Major  Linctot,  in  consequence 
I  did  on  Behalf  of  the  Commonwealth  give  them  Six  Bushell 
Indian  Corn,  Fifty  Pounds  of  Bread,  four  Pounds  of  Gun 
Powder,  Ten  Pounds  of  Ball  and  One  Gallon  of  Taffia,  from 
Carbonneaux."  And,  "March  2 2d,  Came  here  Deputys  from  the 
Delawars,  Shawanoes  and  Cherokee  nations  of  Indians  Begging 
that  the  Americans  wold  grant  them  Pease,  as  likewise  the 
French  and  Spanish,  and  after  hearing  their  Talk,  Smoaking  the 
pipe  of  peace  and  friendship  with  them,  and  from  their  conduct 
while  here  as  well  as  many  marks  they  gave  us  of  their  Sincerity 
I  could  not  avoid  giving  them  on  Behalf  of  the  Americans  the 
Following  articles,  vizt. 

10  Bushells  Indian  Corn,  100  lb.  Flour  and  100  lb.  Bisquit, 
6  lb.  Tobaco,  one  Gallon  Tafia,  5  qts  wampum  and  Canoe  which 
cost  me  20  Dollars." 

The  use  of  the  word  "Bostonians"  by  the  Wabash  Indians,  to 
indicate  the  whites,  is  interesting,  and  may,  perhaps,  show  that 
this  tribe  contained  or  was  made  up  of  fragments  of  tribes  of 
New  England  Indians,  who  would  naturally  use  this  phrase.  The 
evidence  furnished  by  these  memoranda  of  the  weakness  and 
destitution  of  once  powerful  Indian  nations,  is  very  striking, 
although  their  real  condition  may  have  been  slightly  exaggerated, 
in  order  to  obtain  larger  supplies  of  Tafia.  Probably  they  fared 
better  at  the  hands  of  the  simple  Frenchman,  from  the  good-will 
of  his  race  to  the  red  man,  than  if  Colonel  Todd  had  been  at 
the  helm. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  what  had  become  of  Richard  Winston, 
who  was  Deputy-Commandant  in  the  early  part  of  Todd's  ad- 
ministration, and  how  came  he  to  be  superseded  by  this  soft- 
hearted Thimothe'? 

We  should  have  been  utterly  unable  to  answer  these  questions 
but  for  a  paragraph  written  upon  the  inside  of  the  front  cover  of 
this  book,  which  is  as  follows : 

"Kaskaskias  in  the  Illinois  29th  April  1782.  This  day  10 
o'clock  A.M.  I  was  taken  out  of  my  house  by  J.  Neal  Dodge  on 
an  order  given  by  J  no.  Dodge  in  despite  of  the  Civil  authority 
disregarding  the  laws,  and  on  the  malitious  alugation  of  Jno.  Wil- 
liams and  Michel  Pevante  as  may  appear  by  their  deposition.  I 
was  confined  by  tyrannick  military  force  without  making  any  legal 
aplication  to  the  Civil  Magistrates — 30th  The  Attorney  for  the 


COL.   JOHN    TODD'S    RECORD-lloc  .K.  67 

State,  La  Buinieux,  presented  a  petition  to  the  court  -viinst 
Richard  Wmston,  State  Prisoner  in  their  custody  the  contents  of 
which  he  (the  Attorney  for  the  State)  ought  to  have  communicated 
to  me  or  my  attorney,  if  any  I  had."  It  will  be  remembered  that 
when  Todd  first  went  away  from  Kaskaskia,  leaving  Winston  in 
command,  he  advised  him,  by  letter,  by  all  means  to  keei)  up  a 
good  understanding  with  Colonel  Clark  and  the  officers,  tellinc 
him  if  this  was  not  the  case  he  would  be  unhai)py.  We  can  only 
conclude  that  the  unlucky  Winston  had  at  this  time  neglected  this 
injunction,  as  his  trouble  seems  to  have  been  wiUi  the  military, 
and  in  consequence  was  very  unhappy.  At  all  events  he  liad 
fallen  into  disgrace,  of  course  had  lost  his  office,  and  was  im- 
prisoned, doubtless,  in  the  old  French  commandant's  house, 
which  served  as  the  headquarters  of  the  successive  governments 
of  the  Illinois  country,  even  down  to  the  organization  of  our 
State  when  it  became  the  first  State  House.  Here  shut  u]\  ]>ct- 
haps  in  the  governor's  room,  he  found  this  Record-Book,"  and 
wrote  his  sorrowful  tale  within  it.  And  so  it  preserves  to  us,  a 
century  after,  poor  Richard  Winston's  protest  against  "tyranni'ck 
military  force." 

The  remaining  pages  of  this  book  are  occupied  with  a  brief 
record  in  the  French  language  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Court  of 
Kaskaskia,  from  June  5th,  1787,  to  February  15th,  1788.  Dur- 
ing this  period  it  seems  to  be  pretty  much  in  the  hands  of  one 
family,  as  three  of  the  five  justices  are  named  Beauvais.  Antoine 
Beauvais  is  the  presiding  justice,  and  Vital  Beauvais,  and  St. 
Gemme  Beauvais,  are  two  of  his  four  associates.  For  a  long 
time  they  apparently  do  nothing  but  meet  one  month  and  adjourn 
to  the  next,  as  if  determined  in  this  way  to  regain  the  dignity  of 
which  the  court  was  deprived  by  Col.  Todd's  perenqitory  order 
to  their  predecessors  to  hold  a  session,  despite  their  order  of 
adjournment.  On  October  25th,  1787,  they  settle  down  to  busi- 
ness, at  what  they  call  an  extraordinary  session,  to  try  a  case 
betweeA  our  good  friend  Demunbrunt,  and  one  Francis  Carbon- 
eaux.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Thimothe  bought  the  Tafia 
he  gave  to  the  Indians  from  Carboneaux,  and  perhaps  he  had 
forgotten  to  pay  for  it.  The  details,  and  the  result  of  the  cause, 
are  not  given.  The  court  pursues  the  even  tenor  of  its  way  with 
commendable  regularity,  meeting  once  a  month,  in  the  morning, 
and  immediately  adjourning  to  the  next  month,  but  holding  an 
extraordinary  session  whenever  it  had  a  case  to  try,  (and  it  had 
two,  all  told),  until  January  15th,  1788.  At  this  date,  it,  for  the 
first  time,  seemingly,  has  to  deal  with  the  subject  of  jurymen, 
and  solemnly  determines  that  each  juror  from  Prairie  du  Rocher 


68  COL.  JOHX  todd's  record-book. 

shall  have  twenty-five  francs,  and  thereupon  adjourns.  It  meets 
in  the  afternoon  and  impanels  a  jury  to  try  a  cause  in  which 
John  Edgar  is  plaintiff,  and  Thomas  Green,  defendant,  and  with 
a  few  similar  minutes  its  record  ceases,  and  this  book  comes  to 
an  end. 

Its  own  story  is  curious  enough  to  entitle  it  to  preservation,  if 
only  for  its  age  and  the  vicissitudes  through  which  it  has  passed. 
Made  in  Virginia  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  brought  the 
long  journey  thence  to  Illinois,  at  that  day  exceeding  in  risk  and 
time  a  modern  trip  around  the  world,  in  use  here  in  the  infancy 
of  the  Republic,  then  cast  aside  and  forgotten  for  almost  a 
century,  and  lately  rescued  by  the  merest  chance  from  destruc- 
tion, it  has  now,  by  the  formal  vote  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners of  Randolph  County,  Illinois,  the  lineal  successors  of  our 
first  County- Lieutenant,  been  placed,  we  hope  permanently,  in 
the  custody  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.  And  when  we 
consider  that  its  opening  pages  were  inscribed  by  the  first 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  who  was  one  of  the  foremost 
men  of  the  Revolution,  that  it  is  mainly  filled  with  the  handiwork 
of  the  first  County-Lieutenant  of  the  great  Xorth-^Vest  Territory, 
that  it  contains  the  record  of  one  of  the  first  courts  of  common 
law  in  Illinois,  and  above  all,  that  it  is  a  summary  of  the  begin- 
ning of  Republican  institutions  here,  and,  in  fact,  the  record  of 
the  origin  of  our  State,  this  common-looking  book,  with  its 
coarse  paper  and  few  pages  of  faded  handwriting,  becomes  an 
unique  historical  memorial,  worthy  to  be  treasured  by  the  people 
of  Illinois  with  reverent  care  for  all  time  to  come. 

And  with  it  too  should  be  treasured  the  memory  of  that  brave 
and  able  man,  John  Todd,  a  pioneer  of  progress,  education,  and 
liberty,  and  the  real  founder  of  this  Commonwealth,  who  served 
his  countrymen  long  and  well,  and  died  a  noble  death,  fighting 
for  their  homes  and  firesides  against  a  savage  enemy,  and  giving 
his  life,  as  he  had  given  the  best  of  his  years  and  strength,  for  the 
cause  of  civilization  and  free  government  in  the  Western  World. 

The  foregoing  Paper  was  read  before  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  Feb.  15,  1881. 


■'-^S^V*^^^;SJv^;J/;^■ 


FERGUS-     HISTORICAL    SERIES,     No.     20. 


A  WINTER  IX  THH  \M;sI 

[-ETTERS   DESCRirrn  K 

OF 

CHICACiO    AND    VlCIXri'V 

IN 
1833-4. 


r.Y 
CHARLES   FENNO   HOFFMAN. 

author  of 

Wild    Scenes   ix    Forest    .-vnd   Prairie;"   "Gravslaek  ;"   "The   Likk    op  Jacoh 

Leirler;"  "The  Vigil  of  Faith;  and  other  Poems;"  "  Love's  Calknda*:" 

"The  Echo;  or  Borrowed  Notes  for  Home  Circulation  ;"  etc., 

editor  of 

"Knickekhocker  Magazine;"  "American  Monthly 

Magazine;"  and  "New-York  Mirror." 


4<F.1'RINT.   WITH    THK    ORIGIN  A  I,   .'\.M)    NtW    Ndlis. 


CHICAGO: 
rEROUS    PRINTIX(i    (•()Mr.\NV 
1882. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by 

Fergus  Printing  Company, 

In  tlie  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE 


Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  an  American  author,  born  in  New  Vork,  1800. 
Son  of  Judge  J.  Ogden  Hoffman.  Sent  to  Academy  at  rou-Iikeepsie,  and 
ran  away  to  escape  harsh  treatment.  In  1S17,  his  leg  was  crushed  between  a 
steamboat  and  the  wharf,  and  had  to  be  amputated.  This  did  not  prevent  his 
becoming  proficient  in  manly  sports,  for  which,  in  Columbia  College  where 
he  was  educated,  he  was  more  noted  than  for  scholarship.  Was  admittetl  to 
the  bar  at  the  age  of  21,  practised  three  years,  during  which  time  he  made 
contributions  to  literature,  and  became  associated  with  diaries  King  in  the 
editorship  of  the  Nruj-  York  American.  In  1833,  he  went  West  for  his  health, 
and  published  a  series  of  letters  entitled  "A  Winter  in  the  West,"  1S35;  also, 
"Wild  Scenes  in  Forest  and  Prairie,"  1837;  his  only  novel,  "(jrayslaer," 
in  1840;  "The  Life  of  Jacob  Leisler;"  and  numerous  essays  which  have  never 
been  collected.  He  was  a  lover  of  nature  and  the  natural,  and  spent  mo^>t  of 
his  leisure  in  excursions  on  the  Hudson  and  into  the  Adirondack*,  at  that  time 
a  trackless  wilderness.  Of  these  wild  haunts  he  was  pxssionatcly  fond,  and 
took  great  interest  in  the  hunters  and  Indians,  at  that  time  the  only  inhabitants. 

In  Dec,  1832,  Hoffman  established  \\\q  Knickerbocker  Masaziue,  of  which 
he  edited  several  numbers.  He  afterward  edited  the  American  Monthly  yl/<;;.;- 
zine  and  the  Nr^-  York  Mirror.  In  1842,  a  volume  of  his  lyrics  was  publishwl, 
entitled  "The  Vigil  of  Faith;  and  other  Poems."  A  more  complete  e<lition 
appeared  in  1845,  entitled  "Love's  Calendar."  "The  Kcho;  or  Horrowc*! 
Notes  for  Home  Circulation,"  was  the  title  of  a  second  volume  of  iwctry.  In 
1846-8,  he  edited  the  Literary  World,  and,  after  leaving  that  journal,  con- 
tributed to  it  a  number  of  essays  and  storie-s,  entitled  "Sketches  of  Society." 
A  mental  disorder  has,  since  1850,  kept  him  in  complete  retirement  from  the 
world;  his  writings  have  been  for  many  years  out  of  print;  and  his  reputation 
has  been  only  kept  alive  by  "Monterey,"  "Sparkling  and  Bright."  "Rosalie 
Clare,"  and  other  of  his  most  popular  songs  which  have  found  their  way  into 


PREFACE. 


the  various  compendiums  of  American  literatilre.  He  possessed  fine  social 
qualities,  conversational  powers  of  a  high  order,  taste,  scholarship,  and  a 
chivalrous  personal  character  which  made  him  a  favorite  with  all. 

A  new  edition  of  his  poems,  edited  by  his  nephew,  Edward  Fenno  Hoff- 
man, was  published  by  Porter  &  Coates,  Philadelphia,  1873. — Appleton,  etc. 


A  WINTER  IN  THE  \V1-,ST 


NiLES,  Berrien  Co.,  Mich..  Dec.  26\  /Sjj. 
*  *  *  ■:.-  *  ;> 

My  journey  through  Michigan  is  now  nearly  finished,  as  it  began, 
entirely  alone.  At  White  Pigeon,  where  I  found  (im'te  a  i)retty 
village  of  four  years'  growth,  I  seemed,  in  getting  upon  the  post- 
route  from  Detroit  to  Chicago,  to  get  back  once  more  to  an  old 
country.  I  found  a  good  inn  and  attendance  at  Savary's,  and 
discovered,  by  the  travelers  going  north  and  south,  that  traveling 
was  not  as  yet  completely  frozen  up.  'riiere  are  a  great  many 
English  emigrants  settled  upon  this  prairie,  who,  I  am  told,  are 
successfully  introducing  here  the  use  of  live  hedges  instead  of 
fences  in  farming.  They  are  generally  of  a  respectable  class,  and 
seem  to  be  quite  popular  with  the  American  settlers. 

The  morning  was  fine  when  I  left  White  Pigeon  to-da\  ;  and  as 
the  sun  shot  down  through  the  tall  woods,  nothing  could  be  more 
cheering  than  my  ride  among  the  beautiful  hills  of  Cass  County. 
The  road,  which  is  remarkably  good,  meanders  through  ravines 
for  a  distance  of  many  miles,  the  conical  hills  resting  upon  the 
plain  in  such  a  manner  as  barely  to  leave  a  wheel-track  between 
them,  except  when  at  times  some  pretty  lake  or  broad  meadow 
pushes  its  friths  far  within  their  embrace.  A  prairie  of  some  ex- 
tent Avas  to  be  traversed  on  this  side  of  these  eminences,  and  the 
floating  ice  on  the  St.  Joseph's  was  glistening  beneath  its  shadowy 
banks  in  the  rays  of  the  cold  winter  moon  when  I  reached  its^ 
borders,  and  arrived  at  the  stage-house  in  this  flourishing  town  ol 
Niles.  Mine  host,  who  does  not  seem  to  be  the  most  accommo- 
dating person  in  the  world,  has  refused  to  provide  supper  for  my- 
self and  two  other  gentlemen  at  so  late  an  hour,  assigning  as  a 
reason,  that  "his  women  are  not  made  of  steel," — an  instance  ot 
cause  and  effect  which  I  merely  put  upon  record  as  being  the 
only  one  of  the  kind   I   have  met  with  in  all   Michigan.      M\ 

*  A  Winter  in  the  Far  West;  by  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  of  New  \ork. 
2  Volumes.     London:  Richard  Bentley,  New  Burlington  .Street.     1835. 


6  A   WINTER   IN   THE   ^YEST. 

fellow-sufferers  api:)ear  to  be  both  agreeable  men ;  and  as  we  are 
.  to  travel  in  company  to  Chicago,  the  sympathy  arising  from  our 
present  melancholy  condition  may  ensure  a  pleasant  intercourse 
under  happier  auspices. 

The  county  of  Cass,  through  which  I  have  passed  to-day,  has 
a  population  of  more  than  two  thousand;  and  contains  seven 
prairies,  of  six  or  eight  miles  in  diameter,  besides  many  smaller 
ones.  They  produce,  when  cultivated,  from  thirty  to  eighty 
bushels  of  new  corn,  or  forty  of  wheat,  to  the  acre.  The  mode 
of  planting  the  former  is  to  run  a  furrow,  drop  the  corn  in,  and 
cover  it  with  a  succeeding  furrow,  which  is  planted  in  a  similar 
way,  and  the  field  is  rarely  either  plowed  or  hoed  after  planting. 
There  are  several  ]:)retty  lakes  in  this  county;  but  it  is  not  so  well 
watered  as  St.  Joseph's,  through  which  I  passed  yesterday;  which, 
for  local  advantages  of  every  kind,  as  well  as  fertility  of  soil,  is 
generally  considered  one  of  the  best  in  the  peninsula.  I  like 
Kalamazoo  County,  however,  as  much  as  any  part  of  Michigan  I 
have  seen.  I  am  now  within  eight  or  ten  miles  of  the  Indiana 
boundar)',  and  some  twenty  or  thirty  only  from  the  shores  of 
Lake  Michigan,  having  described  nearly  a  semicircle  in  my  tour 
through  the  peninsula,  including,  with  some  deviations,  the  coun- 
ties of  ^^'ayne,  Monroe,  Lenawee,  and  Washtenaw  on  the  east, 
Jackson  in  the  centre,  and  Calhoun,  Kalamazoo,  St.  Joseph'.s, 
Cass,  and  Berrien  on  the  west;  and  I  have  not  met  a  resident  in 
that  whole  range  but  what  was  pleased  with  the  country,  and,  I' 
may  almost  say.  attached  to  its  soil.  The  females,  indeed,  will 
sometimes  murmur;  and  in  some  remote  places  I  have  heard 
those  whose  conversation  indicated  that  they  had  not  been  brought 
up  with  the  most  ordinary  advantages  complain  of  "the  want  of 
society!"  But  even  these  would  love  to  dilate  upon  the  beauties 
of  the  country  when  the  flowers  were  in  bloom.  Others,  again, 
who  had  been  more  gently  nurtured,  would  sigli  at  one  moment 
for  the  comforts  and  elegancies  of  their  maternal  homes,  while 
their  eyes  would  kindle  with  enthusiasm  the  next,  when  speaking 
of  the  appearance  which  the  woods  around  their  new  dwellings 
wore  in  summer.  Small  communities  form  but  slowly  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  settlers,  instead  of  gradually  pushing  their  way  to- 
gether into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  as  at  the  eastward,  drive  their 
wagons  in  any  direction  a  hundred  miles  through  the  openings, 
and  plant  themselves  down  a  day's  journey  apart,  just  where  their 
fancy  prompts  them.  This  will  account  for  my  so  often  lighting 
upon  a  pleasant  hamlet,  after  a  day's  travel  through  a  perfect 
wilderness. 

The  River  St.  Joseph  debouches  into  Lake  Michigan  in  this 


A  WINTER  IX    rill,  \vi;sr. 

■county;  and  as  a  steam-boat  will  probably  run  the  next  scxsoii 
■from  the  town  rapidly  growing  at  its  mouth  to  Chicago,  a  railroad 
from  Detroit  to  this  steam-boat  harbor  is  only  wanting  [o  bring  the 
visitor  of  Niagara  within  a  few  days'  travel  of  Chicago,  and  .'  arry 
Jiim  through  the  ilowery  groves  of  Michigan  to  one  of  the  most 
important  points  in  the  Union,  and  what  may  be  termed  the  een 
tral  head  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  J:)ehnonico  may  then  stock 
his  larder  with  grouse  from  the  meadows  of  Michigan,  and  (lassin 
try  his  skill  upon  the  delicious  fish  that  swarm  her  lakes  and 
rivers;  (would  that  I  could  at  this  moment  witness  some  of  their 
curious  orgies  I)  while  sportsmen  will  think  no  more  of  a  irij. 
hither  than  they  do  now  of  an  excursion  to  Islip.  Rayner-Soulh. 
or  Patchogue.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  secured  you  the  seed*. 
of  more  than  twenty  varieties  of  wild  flowers,  which  I  shall  send 
to  their  destination  as  soon  as  possible,  lest,  from  the  rapid  increase 
of  internal  communication,  they  may  lose  half  their  value  from 
ceasing  to  be  a  rarity. 

Door  Prairie,  Indi.^n.a,  Bfi.  2g,  iSjj. 

Being  now  on  the  mail-route  between  Detroit  and  Chicago.  I 
am  traveling  very  comfortably  in  a  four-horse  wagon,  with  the 
gentlemen  mentioned  in  my  last.  I  found  my  horse's  back  so 
chafed  at  White  Pigeon,  that  it  was  unpleasant  to  use  him  longer 
under  the  saddle;  and  having  met  with  my  trunk  at  Niles,  which 
was  forwarded  from  Monroe  by  a  friend,  I  am  in  a  measure  com- 
pelled to  adopt  what  is  certainly  the  most  agreeable  mode  of  travel- 
ing at  this  season  through  a  bleak  prairie  lountry. 

The  cold  winter  moon  was  still  riding  high  in  the  heavens  as 
we  ferried  over  the  St.  Joseph's  at  Niles  this  morning.  .V  low 
sided  scow  was  the  means  of  conveyance ;  and,  after  breaking  the 
solid  ice  near  the  shore  to  loose  us  from  our  moorings,  it  rei|uired 
some  pains  to  shun  the  detached  cakes  which  came  driving  down 
the  centre  of  the  dark -rolling  river;  while,  near  the  opposite 
shore,  they  had  become  so  wedged  and  frozen  together,  that  it 
required  considerable  exertion  to  break  away  with  our  long  poles, 
and  make  good  our  landing.  At  length,  ascending  the  bank,  a 
beautiful  plain,  with  a  clump  of  trees  here  and  there  upon  its  sur- 
face, opened  to  our  view.  The  establishment  of  the  Carey  Mis^ 
sion,*  a  long,  low,  white  building,  could  be  distinguished  afar  off 

*  The  Carey  Mission-house,  so  designated  in  honor  of  llie  late  -Mr  Carey. 
the  indefatigable  apostle  of  India,  is  situated  williin  about  a  mile  of  t'>c  "-'^f ', 
and  twenty-five  miles  (by  land)  above  its  mouth.  The  ground  upon  whicn  it 
is  erected  is  the  site  of  an  ancient  and  extensive  I'oltaw.ilonue  village,  nou 
no  longer  in  existence.     The  establishment  was  instituted  by  the  liaptist  .mis- 


8  A   WINTER   IN   THE   WEST. 

faintly  in  the  moonlight;  while  several  wintert  lodges  of  the  Pot- 

sionary  Society  in  Washington,  and  is  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  M'Coy;  a  man  whom,  from  all  the  reports  we  heard  of  him,  we  should 
consider  as  very  eminently  qualified  for  the  important  trust  committed  to  him. 
'I'he  plan  adopted  in  the  school  proposes  to  unite  a  practical  with  an  intellect- 
ual education.  The  boys  are  instructed  in  the  English  language,  in  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  They  are  made  to  attend  to  the  usual  occupations  of 
a  farm,  and  to  perform  every  occupation  connected  with  it — such  as  plowing, 
planting,  harrowing,  etc.,  in  these  pursuits  they  appear  to  take  great  delight. 
The  system  being  well  regulated,  they  find  time  for  everything,  not  only  for 
study  and  labor,  but  also  for  innocent  recreation,  in  which  they  are  encouraged 
to  indulge.  The  females  receive  in  the  school  the  same  instruction  which  is 
given  to  the  boys;  and  are,  in  addition  to  this,  taught  spinning,  weaving,  and 
sewing  (both  plain  and  ornamental).  They  were  just  beginning  to  embroider 
— an  occupation  which  may  by  some  be  considered  as  unsuitable  to  the  situa- 
tion which  they  are  destined  to  hold  in  life,  but  which  appears  to  us  to  be  very 
judiciously  used  as  a  reward  and  stimulus :  it  encourages  their  taste  and  nat- 
ural talent  for  imitation,  which  is  very  great;  and,  by  teaching  them  that 
occupation  may  be  connected  with  amusement,  prevents  their  relapsing  into 
indolence.  They  are  likewise  made  to  attend  to  the  pursuits  of  the  dairy; 
such  as  the  milking  of  cows,  churning  of  milk,  etc.  The  establishment  is 
intended  to  be  opened  for  children  from  seven  to  fourteen  years  old;  they  very 
properly  receive  them  at  a  much  earlier  age,  and  even — where  a  great  desire 
of  learning  was  manifested — older  persons  have  been  admitted.  All  appear 
to  be  very  happy,  and  to  make  as  rapid  progress  as  white  children  of  the  same 
age  would  make.  Their  principal  excellence  rests  in  works  of  imitation;  they 
write  astonishingly  well,  and  many  display  great  natural  talent  for  drawing. 
The  institution  receives  the  countenance  of  the  most  respectable  among  the 
Indians,  who  visit  the  establishment  occasionally,  appear  pleased  with  it,  and 
show  their  favor  to  it  by  presents  of  sugar,  venison,  etc.,  which  they  often 
make  lo  the  family  of  the  missionary.  The  establishment,  being  sanctioned 
by  the  War  Department,  receives  annually  one  thousand  dollars  from  the 
United  States,  for  the  support  of  a  teacher  and  blacksmith,  according  to  the 
conditions  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Chicago,  in  1821,  by  Governor  Cass  and 
Mr.  Sibley,  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

[The  above  interesting  account  of  the  Carey  Mission  is  abridged  from  that 
given  in  the  narrative  of  Long's  expedition.  The  time  that  has  elapsed  since 
it  originally  appeared  has  of  course  diminished  its  present  value;  but  the  author 
not  having  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting  the  establishment,  and  finding  from 
all  the  inquiries  he  could  make  regarding  it,  that  the  institution  is  sustaining 
itself  efficiently  upon  the  plan  above  detailed,  he  has  thought  that  it  would  be 
more  satisfactory  to  the  reader  to  have  this  compendium  of  an  official  report 
than  to  dwell  upon  any  hearsay  information  which  he  might  have  supplied  in 
the  text] 

+  "  They  made  their  winter  cabins  in  the  following  form :  they  cut  logs  about 
fifteen  feet  long,  and  laid  these  logs  upon  each  other,  and  drove  posts  in  the 
ground  at  each  end,  to  keep  them  together;  the  posts  they  tied  together  at  the 
top  with  bark;  and  by  this  means  raised  a  wall  fifteen  feet  long  and  about  four 
feet  high,  and  in  the  same  manner  they  raised  another  wall  opposite  to  this  at 
about  twelve  feet  distance :  then  they  drove  forks  in  the  ground  in  the  centre 
of  each  end,  and  laid  a  strong  pole  from  end  to  end  on  these  forks;  and  from 
these  walls  to  the  pole  they  set  up  poles  instead  of  rafters,  and  on  these  they 
tied  small  poles  in  place  of  laths,  and  a  cover  was  made  of  lynn-bark,  which 


.   A   WINTER    IX    nil;    WKST.  cf 

tawatomies,  three  or  four  hundred  of  which  tril)c  inhabit  tins  fine 
district,  were  plainly  perceptible  over  tlie  plain.  The  moon 
indeed,  shone  with  an  effulgence  such  as  I  have  never  witnessed! 
except  beneath  the  pearly  skies  of  the  West.  Morning  came  at 
last;  still,  but  excessively  cold;  our  horses"  manes  and  our  own 
clothes  being  covered  with  hoar-frost,  while  each  blade-  of  gra.ss 
that  shot  its  wilted  spear  above  the  snow  glistened  like  a  diamond's 
point  beneath  the  uprising  sun. 

About  ten  o'clock,  we  reached  a  shanty  on  Terre  Coupe  prairie, 
and  finding  no  one  at  home,  we  rummaged  the  establishment  to 
find  the  materials  for  a  breakfast,  which  we  cooked  ourselves,  and 
left  payment  upon  the  table.  (Air  next  stage  carried  us  over  a 
rollmg prairie  to  Laporte.  The  undulating  surface  resembled  the 
ground-swell  of  the  sea;  and  nothing  could  be  more  dreary  at 
this  season,  when  the  bright  sky  of  the  morning  became  overcast, 
than  moving  mile  after  mile  over  this  frozen  lake — for  such  it 
appeared — with  nothing  but  its  monotonous  swell  to  catch  the 
eye  wherever  its  glances  roamed. 

It  was  afternoon  when  we  reached  the  little  settlement  of  L;i- 
porte,  which  is  situated  on  a  pretty  lake,  in  a  prairie  of  the  same 
name,  the  skirts  of  which  are  beautifully  timbered.  There  was 
just  light  enough  remaining  when  we  reached  our  ])resent  stop- 
ping-place, a  comfortable  log-cabin,  to  see  the  opening  ahead 
through  the  timber,  from  which  this  prairie  takes  its  name.  It 
forms  a  door  opening  upon  an  arm  of  the  (Irand  Prairie,  \yhich 
runs  through  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  extends  after- 
ward, if  I  mistake  not,  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  I 
am  now  in  the  land  of  the  Hoosiers,  and  find  that  long-haired  race 
much  more  civilized  than  some  of  their  western  neiglibors  arc 
willing  to  represent  them.  The  term  '"Hoosier,"  like  that  oi 
Yankee,  or  Buck-eye,  first  applied  contemptuously,  has  now  be- 
come a  soubriquet,  that  bears  nothing  invidious  with  it  to  the  car 
of  an  Indianian.  This  part  of  the  State  is  as  yet  but  thinly  set- 
tled; but  the  land  is  rapidly  coming  into  market,  and  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  support  a  dense  population.  A  new  town  and  harbor, 
called  Michigan  City,  about  thirty  miles  oft",  on  the  shore  of  the 

will  run  (peel)  even  in  the  winter  season.  At  the  end  of  Uiese  \vall>  they  .set 
up  split  timber,  so  that  they  had  timber  all  round,  e.xceptiilg  a  door  at  each 
end:  at  the  top,  in  place  of  a  chimney,  they  left  an  open  place;  and  for  I  Kid- 
ding they  laid  down  the  aforesaid  kind  of  bark,  on  which  they  spread  l*ear^ 
skins:  from  end  to  end  of  this  hut,  .along  the  middle,  there  were  fires,  which 
the  squaws  made  of  dry  split  wood;  and  the  holes  or  open  places  that  aiipcared 
the  squaws  stopped  with  moss,  which  they  collected  from  old  l(;i:>;  »"*  •■»'  ""• 
door  they  hung  a  bear-skin;  and,  notwilhst.anding  the  winters  arc  hanl  here, 
our  lodging  was  much  better  than  I  expected."— Cc/.  ^»i,th  s  Aarra/nt. 


10  A   WINTER   IN   THE   WEST. 

lake,  is  fast  coming  into  notice,  and  giving  a  spur  to  the  settle- 
ments in  these  parts.  The  country  is,  however,  still  wild  enough, 
.and  I  have  a  wilder  yet  to  pass  before  reaching  Chicago. 

Chicago,  Jan.  i,  1834. 

We  left  the  prairie  on  the  east,  after  passing  through  "the  door," 
and  entering  a  forest,  where  the  enormous  black-walnut  and  syca- 
more trees  cumbered  the  soil  with  trunks  from  which  a  comforta- 
ble dwelling  might  be  excavated.  The  road  was  about  as  bad 
iis  could  be  imagined;  and  after  riding  so  long  over  prairies  as 
smooth  as  a  turnpike,  the  stumps  and  fallen  trees  over  which  we 
were  compelled  to  drive,  with  the  deep  mud-holes  into  which  our 
horses  continally  plunged,  were  anything  but  agreeable.  Still  the 
stupendous  vegetation  of  the  forest  interested  me  sufficiently  to 
make  the  time,  otherwise  enlivened  by  good  company,  pass  with 
sufficient  fleetness,  though  we  made  hardly  more  than  two  miles 
an  hour  throughout  the  stage.  At  last,  after  passing  several  un- 
tenanted sugar-camps*  of  the  Indians,  we  reached  a  cabin,  prettily 
situated  on  the  banks  of  a  lively  brook  winding  through  the  forest. 
A  little  Frenchman  waited  at  the  door  to  receive  our  horses,  while 
a  couple  of  half-intoxicated  Indians  followed  us  into  the  house, 
in  the  hope  of  getting  a'netos  (vulgarly,  "a  treat")  from  the  new- 
comers. The  usual  settlers'  dinner  of  fried  bacon,  venison  cut- 
lets, hot  cakes,  and  wild  honey,  with  some  tolerable  tea  and  Indian 
sugar, — as  that  made  from  the  maple-tree  is  called  at  the  West, — 
w-as  soon  placed  before  us;  while  our  new  driver,  the  frizzy  little 
Frenchman  already  mentioned,  harnessed  a  fresh  team,  and  hur- 
ried us  into  the  wagon  as  soon  as  possible.  The  poor  little  fellow 
had  thirty  miles  to  drive  before  dark,  on  the  most  difficult  part  of 

*  The  ordinary  appendages  of  a  "sugar  camp,"  and  the  process  of  making 
sugar,  are  described  in  the  following  extract  from  the  work  above  quoted. 
"  In  this  month  we  began  to  make  sugar.  As  some  of  the  elm-bark  will  strip 
at  this  season,  the  squaws,  after  finding  a  tree  that  would  do,  cut  it  down; 
and  with  a  crooked  stick,  broad  and  sharp  at  the  end,  took  the  bark  off  the 
tree;  and  of  this  bark  made  vessels  in  a  curious  maimer,  that  would  hold  about 
two  gallons  each :  they  made  about  one  hundred  of  these  kind  of  vessels.  In 
the  sugar-tree  they  cut  a  notch,  and  stuck  in  a  tomahawk :  in  the  place  where 
they  stuck  the  tomahawk  they  drove  a  long  chip,  in  order  to  carry  the  water 
out  from  the  tree,  and  under  this  they  set  their  vessel  to  receive  it;  they  also 
made  bark-vessels  for  carrying  the  water,  that  would  hold  about  four  gallons 
each;  they  had  two  brass  kettles  that  held  about  fifteen  gallons  each,  and  other 
smaller  kettles,  in  which  they  boiled  the  water  as  fast  as  it  was  collected;  they 
made  vessels  of  bark  that  would  hold  about  one  hundred  gallons  each,  for  con- 
taining the  water;  and  though  the  sugar-trees  did  not  run  every  day,  they  had 
always  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  to  keep  them  boiling  during  the  whole 
sugar-season." — Col.  Smit/i's  A^arrative. 


A   WINTER   IN   THK   WEST.  1  i 

the  route  of  the  Hue  between  Detroit  and  Chicago.  It  was  easy 
to  see  that  he  knew  nothing  of  driving  the  moment  he  took  his 
reins  in  hand;  but  when  one  of  my  fellow-travelers  mentioned  thai 
little  Victor  had  been  preferred  to  his  present  situation  of  trust 
from  the  indefatigable  manner  in  which,  before  the  stage-route 
was  established  last  season,  he  had  for  years  carried  the  mail 
through  this  lonely  country — swimming  rivers  and  sleeping  in  the 
woods  at  all  seasons — it  was  impossible  to  dash  the  mixture  of 
boyish  glee  and  official  pomposity  with  which  he  entered  upon 
his  duties,  by  suggesting  any  improvement  as  to  the  mode  of  per 
forming  them.  Away  then  we  went,  helter-skelter,  through  the 
woods — scrambled  through  a  brook,  and  galloping  over  an  arm 
of  the  prairie,  struck  again  into  the  forest.  A  fine  stream,  called 
the  Calamine,  made  our  progress  here  more  gentle  for  a  moment. 
But  immediately  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  was  an  Indian 
trading-post,  and  our  little  French  Phseton — -who,  to  tell  the  truth, 
had  been  repressing  his  fire  for  the  last  half-hour,  while  winding 
among  the  decayed  trees  and  broken  branches  of  the  forest — 
could  contain  no  longer.  He  shook  the  reins  on  his  wheel-horses, 
and  cracked  up  his  leaders  with  an  air  that  would  have  distin- 
guished him  on  the  Third  Avenue,  and  been  envied  at  Cato's. 
He  rises  in  his  seat  as  he  passes  the  trading-house;  he  sweeps  by 
like  a  whirlwind:  but  a  female  peeps  from  the  portal,  and  it  is  all 
over  with  poor  Victor. 

"Ah,  wherefore  did  he  turn  to  look? 
That  pause,  that  fatal  gaze  he  took, 
Hath  doomed — " 

his  discomfiture.  The  infuriate  car  strikes  a  stump,  and  the  un- 
lucky youth  shoots  off  at  a  tangent,  as  if  he  were  discharged  from 
a  mortar.  The  whole  operation  was  completed  with  such  velocity 
that  the  first  intimation  I  had  of  what  was  going  forward,  was  on 
finding  myself  two  or  three  yards  from  the  shattered  wagon  with 
a  tall  Indian  in  a  wolf-skin  cap  standing  over  me.  My  two  fellow- 
passengers  were  dislodged  from  their  seats  with  the  same  want  ot 
ceremony;  but  though  the  disjecta  membra  of  our  company  were 
thus  prodigally  scattered  about,  none  of  us  providentially  received 
injury.  Poor  Victor  was  terribly  crest-fallen;  and  had  he  not  un- 
packed his  soul  by  caUing  upon  all  the  saints  in  the  calendar,  in 
a  manner  more  familiar  than  respectful,  I  venly  believe  that  ms 
tight  little  person  would  have  exploded  like  a  torpedo.  A  %er> 
respectable-looking  Indian  female,  the  wife,  i.robably,  ot  tnc 
French  gentleman  who  owned  the  post,  came  out,  and  c«vi">  mr- 
nished  us  with  basins  and  towels  to  clean  our  hands  and  faces, 


12  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

which  were  sorely  bespattered  with  mud;  while  the  gray  old  Indian 
before-mentioned  assisted  in  collecting  our  scattered  baggage. 

The  spot  where  our  disaster  occurred  was  a  sequestered,  wild- 
looking  place.  The  trading  establishment  consisted  of  six  or 
eight  log-cabins,  of  a  most  primitive  construction,  all  of  them  gray 
with  age,  and  so  grouped  on  the  bank  of  the  river  as  to  present 
an  appearance  quite  picturesque.  There  was  not  much  time,  how- 
ever, to  be  spent  in  observing  its  beauties.  The  sun  was  low,  and 
we  had  twenty-five  miles  yet  to  travel  that  night  before  reaching 
the  only  shanty  on  the  lake  shore.  My  companions  were  com- 
pelled to  mount  two  of  the  stage-horses,  while  I  once  more  put 
the  saddle  on  mine;  and  leaving  our  trunks  to  follow  a  week 
hence,  we  slung  our  saddle-bags  across  the  cruppers  and  pushed 
directly  ahead. 

A  few  miles'  easy  riding  through  the  woods  brought  us  to  a 
dangerous  morass,  where  we  were  compelled  to  dismount  and 
drive  our  horses  across,  one  of  the  party  going  in  advance  to 
catch  them  on  the  other  side.  A  mile  or  two  of  pine  barrens 
now  lay  between  us  and  the  shore,  and  winding  rapidly  among  the 
short  hills  covered  with  this  stinted  growth,  we  came  suddenly 
upon  a  mound  of  white  sand  at  least  fifty  feet  high.  Another  of 
these  desolate-looking  eminences,  still  higher,  lay  beyond.  We 
topped  it:  and  there,  far  away  before  us,  lay  the  broad  bosom  of 
Lake  Michigan, — the  red  disk  of  the  sun  just  sinking  beneath  it, 
and  the  freshening  night-breeze  beginning  to  curl  its  limpid  waters 
on  the  shore;  and  now,  having  gained  their  verge,  whichever  way 
we  turned  there  was  nothing  discernible  but  the  blackening  lake 
on  one  side  and  these  conical  hills  of  shifting  white  sand  on  the 
other.  Some  of  them,  as  the  night  advanced,  and  objects  were 
only  discernible  by  the  bright  starlight,  assumed  a  most  fantastic 
appearance,  and  made  me  regret  that  I  could  not  visit  the  "Sleep- 
ing Bear,"  and  other  singularly-formed  mounds,  which,  many  miles 
farther  to  the  north,  swell  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  Lake.  The  deep  sand,  into  which  our  horses 
sunk  to  the  fetlocks,  was  at  first  most  wearisome  to  the  poor 
brutes;  and  having  twenty  miles  yet  to  travel  entirely  on  the  lake- 
shore,  we  were  compelled,  in  spite  of  the  danger  of  quicksands, 
to  move  as  near  the  water  as  possible.  But  though  the  day  had 
been  mild,  the  night  rapidly  became  so  cold  that,  before  we  had 
proceeded  thus  many  miles,  the  beach  twenty  yards  from  the  surf 
was  nearly  as  hard  as  stone,  and  the  finest  macadamized  road  in 
the  world  could  not  compare  with  the  one  over  which  we  now 
galloped.  Nor  did  we  want  lamps  to  guide  us  on  our  way. 
Above,  the  stars  stood  out  like  points  of  lights;  while  the  resplen- 


A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST.  13 

dent  fires  of  the  Aurora  Rorealis,  shooting  along  the  heavL-ns  on 
our  right,  were  mocked  by  the  hvid  glare  of  the  Kankakee 
marshes,  burning  behind  the  sand-hills  on  our  left.  The  J.akc 
alone  looked  dark  and  lowering;  though  even  its  gathering  waves 
would  smile  when  touched  with  light  as  they  broke  uj)on  ihc 
shore.  The  intense  cold  seemed  to  invigorate  our  horses;  and 
dashing  the  fire  from  the  occasional  pebbles,  they  clattered  along 
the  frozen  beach  at  a  rate  that  brought  us  rapidly  to  our  destina- 
tion for  the  night. 

It  was  a  rude  cabin,  built  of  stems  of  the  scrub  pine,  standing 
behind  a  sandy  swell  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  shore. 
My  fingers  were  numb  with  cold;   and  seeing  a  rough-looking 
fellow  moving  from  the  door  toward  the  horses  of  my  companions. 
I  requested  him  to  take  mine  also;  but,  upon  his  politely  rejoin- 
ing that  "he  was  nobody's  servant  but  his  own,''  I  could  only 
wish  him  "a  more  civil  master,"  and  proceeded  to  take  care  of 
the  animal  myself     A  brake  of  stunted  evergreens  near-by  sup- 
plied the  place  of  a  stable;  and  passing  a  wisp  of  dry  grass  over 
the  reeking  limbs  of  my  four-footed  friend.  I  fiung  my  cloak  over 
his  back  and  tethered  him  for  the  night.     The  keeper  of  the  rustic 
hostelrie  came  up  just  as  I  had  got  through  with  this  necess:u-y 
task,  and  explaining  to  me  that  the  insolent  lounger  was  a  dis- 
charged mail-carrier,  returned  with  me  to  the  house  for  a  measure 
of  corn;  while  I,  guided  by  the  light  flickering  through  the  crevices 
of  his  frail  dwelling,  rejoined  my  companions,  nestled  with  two 
other  half-frozen  travelers  around  the  grateful  fire  within.     The 
strangers  were  both  western  men;  one,  I   believe,  a  tartner,  lor 
some  time  settled  in  Illinois,  and  the  other  an  Indian  trader  of 
long  standing  in  Chicago.     W'arlike  incidents  in  border  story,  and 
the  pacific  dealings  between  the  whites  and  Indians,  formed  the 
chief  subjects  of  conversation,  which  soon  became  general,  and 
was  prolonged  to  a  late  hour;  finally  the  late  treaty  held  at  C  hi- 
cago-^at  which,  as  you-  have  probably  seen  m  the  newspapers, 
several  thousand  Indians  were  present— was  discussed,  and  the 
anecdotes  that  were  told  of  meanness,  rapacity,  and  highway  rob- 
bery (in   cheating,  stealing,  and  forcibly  taking  away)  fr-m  the 
Indians,  exasperated  me  so  that  I  exi)ressed  my  indignation  and 
'  disgust  in  unmeasured  terms.     The  worthy  trader,  who  was  a 
middle-aged  man,   of  affable,  quiet,  good  manners,  seemed  lo 
sympathize  with  me   throughout;    but  the  whole  current  ol  my 
feelings  was  totally  changed  when,  upon  mv  olJ^^';^;'"^^  ;'';;'■"> 
afterward  to  another  gentlemen,  that  'T  should  have  liked  to  ha^c 
been  at  Chicago  a  year  ago,"  my  warm  coadjutor  ejacuUi  ed  fmm 
under  the  bedclothes,  where  he  had  in  the  meantime  bestoucd 


14  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

himself,  "Ah,  sir,  if  you  had,  the  way  in  which  you'd  have  hooked 
an  Indian  blanket  by  this  time  would  be  curious."  The  chivalric 
knight  of  La  Mancha  himself  could  not  have  sustained  heroics 
under  such  a  home-thrust,  but  must  have  burst  into  the  hearty 
laugh  in  which  I  was  joined  by  all  present.  The  hour  of  sleep 
for  all  at  last  arrived,  and  a  couple  of  wooden  bunks,  swung  from 
the  roof,  falling  to  the  lot  of  those  who  had  come  in  first,  I 
wrapped  myself  in  a  buffalo-skin,  and  placing  my  saddle  under  my 
head  for  a  pillow,  soon  "slept  like  a  king;"  a  term  which,  if 

"Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown" 

be  true  doctrine,  is,  probably,  quasi  Incus,  etc. 

Our  transient  acquaintances  parted  from  us  in  a  most  friendly 
manner  in  the  morning;  and  after  waiting  in  vain  till  near  noon 
to  see  if  by  any  chance  little  Victor  might  not  be  able  to  forward 
our  trunks  to  this  point,  we  mounted  once  more,  and  pushed 
ahead  with  all  speed,  to  accomplish  the  remaining  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  between  the  shanty  and  Chicago.  Our  route  was  still  along 
the  shore ;  and  after  passing  round  the  end  of  the  Lake  and  tak- 
ing a  northwardly  direction,  the  way  in  which  the  icy  blast  would 
come  down  the  bleak  shore  of  the  Lake  "was  a  caution."  We 
galloped  at  full  speed,  every  man  choosing  his  own  route  along 
the  beach,  our  horses'  hoofs  ringing  the  while  as  if  it  were  a  pave- 
ment of  flint  beneath  them.  The  rough  ice  piled  up  on  the  coast 
prevented  us  from  watering  our  beasts;  and  we  did  not  draw  a 
rein  till  the  rushing  current  of  the  Calamine,  which  debouches 
into  Lake  Michigan  some  ten  miles  from  Chicago,  stayed  our 
course.  A  cabin  on  the  bank  gave  us  a  moment's  opportunity  to 
warm,  and  then,  being  ferried  over  the  wintry  stream,  we  started 
with  fresh  vigor,  and  crossing  about  a  mile  of  prairie  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Chicago,  reached  here  in  time  for  an  early  dinner. 
Our  horses  this  morning  seemed  none  the  worse  for  this  furious 
riding;  their  escape  from  ill  consecjuences  being  readily  attributa- 
ble to  the  excellence  of  the  road,  and  the  extreme  coldness  of 
the  weather  while  traveling  it.  For  my  own  part,  I  never  felt 
better  than  after  this  violent  burst  of  exercise. 

We  had  not  been  here  an  hour  before  an  invitation  to  a  public 
ball  was  courteously  sent  to  us  by  the  managers;*  and  though  my 

*  During  the  winter  of  1833-4,  Chicago,  for  the  first  time,  was  enabled  to 
present  a  scene  of  social  intercourse  and  gayety.  A  large  emigration  had 
rushed  in  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Chiefly  young  people,  full  of  vivacity 
and  enthusiasm,  mostly  strangers  to  each  other.  Naturally  they  sought  to 
cultivate  acquaintance  and  by  social  intercourse  to  lay  the  foundation  for  what 


A   WINTER   IN    Till.    WKSI'.  i; 

soiled  and  travel-worn  riding-dress  was  not  exactly  the  thin}^  .u> 
present  one's  self  in  before  ladies  of  an  evening,  yet,  in  my  car 
nestness  to  see  life  on  the  frontier,  I  easily  allowed  all  ohjc-c  lions 
to  be  overruled  by  my  companions,  and  we  acctjrdin^jy  drove  to 
the  house  in  which  the  ball  was  given.  It  was  a  frame-building', 
one  of  the  few  as  yet  to  be  found  in  Chicago;  which,  although 

might  be  called  society.  Frequent  gatherings  at  private  houses,  where  danc- 
ing, plays,  and  charades  constituted  their  amusements,  and  familiarized  ' ' 
with  each  other.  But  beyond  this,  a  number  of  what  might  be  called  \,u:  ... 
balls  were  given,  to  which  everybody  of  respectability  were  invited.  Among 
the  first  of  these  was  the  one  so  graphically  described  in  the  text.  The  com- 
pany could  not  be  called  select,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  but  it  was  every 
way  respectable.  The  female  population  was  considerably  less  than  the  male, 
so  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  presence  of  all  to  equalize  the  sexes  as  far  a-s 
possible,  and  to  secure  respectable  numbers.  If  the  servant-girls  were  inviie<l 
and  danced  in  the  same  sets  with  their  mistresses,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
those  servant-girls  were  well-educated  daughters  of  respectable  families  who- 
had  lately  arrived,  with  more  energy  and  intelligence  than  wealth,  and  wjjo 
were  willing  to  work  at  high  wages  to  secure  the  means  for  a  start  in  the  new 
place.  Indeed,  there  was  no  place  for  drones  or  luxurious  idlers  in  Chicago 
then,  and  industry  and  frugality  were  alone  respectable.  Those  girls  who  were 
not  ashamed  to  wait  upon  the  table  then  were  destined  soon  to  become  the 
wives  and  mothers  of  whom  Chicago  has  ever  had  cause  to  be  proud.  Then 
were  laid  the  foundations  of  Chicago  society,  and  the  result  has  shown  tlicy 
were  well  laid. 

A  printing-press  had  lately  been  established  here  by  John  Calhoun,  so  th.nt 
ball-tickets  could  then  be  printed.  We  copy  one  of  these  tickets  issued  for  .n 
ball,  given  at  the  same  hall  as  the  one  attended  by  Mr.  Hoffman,  and  a  few 
weeks  later,  to  show  how  such  things  were  done  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  and  in 
the  very  infancy  of  society  in  Chicago: 


it 


§il^ll|)    15Jl-^A-?t(5>. 


Misses  H.  and  L.  Harmon  are  respectfully  solicited  at 
Mr.  Graves'  Assembly  Room,*  on  Wednesday,  February  jlh, 
at  6  o'clock  P.  M. 

R.    A.    KINZIE,  )    d    (  I.    I'      IlAKM'»N, 

G.  Spring,       J '^  {  J'"-    ^-  •'^^""'' 

J.    D.    CaTON,     )  ^,   (  M.    I-    BKAIBIKN. 

Chicago,  February  i,  1834." 
1  Mn  the  rear  part  of  what  is  now  Nos.  82,  84,  86,  and  88  Lake  Street.  I 
It  may  be  interesting  to  notice  that  three  of  the  managers  whose  name. 


1 6  A   WINTER   IN   THE   WEST. 

one  of  the  most  ancient  French  trading-posts  on  the  Lakes,  can 
only  date  its  growth  as  a  village  since  the  Indian  war,  eighteen 
months  since.*     When  I  add  that  the  population  has  qidntnpled 

appear  upon  this  ball-ticket  are  still  living  after  the  lapse  of  forty-eight  years, 
ziz.:  Caton,  Harmon,  and  Beaubien.  We  may  note,  too,  that  at  that  time  it 
was  considered  quite  the  thing  to  borrow  a  word  from  the  Pottawatomies,  who 
still  had  their  home  here,  which  signifies  a  social  dance  as  distinguished  from 
a  war-dance. 

The  month  of  January  had  been  very  cold,  and  early  in  February  the  thaw 
came  and  made  the  streets,  or  rather  the  low  wet  prairie,  almost  impassable; 
so  that  the  company  had  to  be  taken  to  the  ball  in  lumber-wagons,  or  ox-carts, 
or  other  similar  heavy  conveyance.  Indeed,  there  were  but  few  carriages  in 
the  town  and  they  could  not  be  used  when  the  mud  was  deep.  For  several 
year^  after  this,  in  place  of  carriages,  one-horse  carts  were  used  by  the  ladies 
in  making  calls,  or  in  attending  church,  parties,  or  weddings,  and  when  all  did 
it,  it  was  considered  quite  the  proper  thing  to  do.  In  truth,  in  deep  mud,  it 
was  the  most  comfortable  conveyance  that  could  have  been  invented.  A  cart 
half-filled  with  prairie-hay,  covered  with  a  buffalo-robe,  and  others  for  cover- 
ing, which  could  be  backed  up  to  the  door — sidewalks,  except  a  single  plank, 
were  then  unknown  in  Chicago— out  of  which  the  passengers  could  step  into 
the  house,  and  was  the  most  comfortable  and  convenient  thing  imaginable. 
As  late  as  1837  or  1838,  and  probably  later,  ladies  did  their  shopping  in  these 
horse-carts,  and  thus  met  each  other  wading  through  the  mud  with  a  merry 
salutation,  or  at  the  stores  and  shops,  in  front  of  which  their  carts  were  ranged, 
with  a  jolly,  happy  greeting,  far  more  joyous  than  later,  when  they  could  go 
in  their  landaus  at  any  season  of  the  year. — John  Dean  Caton,  Chicago, 
March  20th,  1882. 

*  The  town  of  Chicago  has  become  so  important  a  place,  and  is  so  rapidly 
developing  its  resources,  as  to  call  for  a  more  particular  notice  than  it  receives 
in  the  text.  Its  sudden  strides  to  prosperity  can  be  best  estimated,  however, 
by  first  perceiving  the  condition  and  prospects  of  Chicago  as  they  presented 
themselves  to  Major  Long's  party  when  they  visited  it  ten  years  .since.  "The 
village  presents  no  cheering  prospect,  as,  notwithstanding  its  antiquity,  it  con- 
sists of  but  few  huts,  inhabited  by  a  miserable  race  of  men,  scarcely  equal  to 
the  Indians,  from  whom  they  are  descended.  Their  log  or  bark-laouses  are 
low,  filthy,  and  disgusting,  displaying  nof  the  least  trace  of  comfort.  Chicago 
is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  in  the  Indian  country.  A  fort  is  said 
to  have  formerly  existed  there:  mention  is  made  of  the  place  as  having  been 
visited  in  1671  by  Perot,  who  found  'Chicagou'  to  be  the  residence  of  a  power- 
ful chief  of  the  Miamis.  The  number  of  trails  centering  all  at  this  spot,  and 
their  apparent  antiquity,  indicate  that  this  was  probably  for  a  long  while  the 
site  of  a  large  Indian  village.  As  a  place  of  business,  it  offers  no  inducement 
to  the  settler;  for  the  whole  annual  amount  of  the  trade  on  the  Lake  did  not 
exceed  the  cargo  of  five  or  six  schooners,  even  at  the  time  when  the  garrison 
received  its  supplies  from  Mackinac. " — Long's  Second  Expedition,  vol.  i.  p.  164. 

Contrast  this  desolate  picture— not  with  the  representation  made  in  the  text, 


A   WINTER    TX     lin.;    WKST  ,- 

last  summer,  and  that  but  few  mechanics  have  come  in  with  the 
prodigious  increase  of  residents,  you  can  readily  imagine  that  the 
influx  of  strangers  far  exceeds  the  means  of  accommodation- 
while  scarcely  a  house  in  the  place,  however  comforiahlclooking 
outside,  contains  more  than  two  or  three  finished  rooms.  In  the 
present  instance,  we  were  ushered  into  a  tolorahly-sized  dancing 
room,  occupying  the  second  story  of  tlie  house',  and  having  its 
vmfinished  walls  so  ingeniously  covered  with  pine  branches  and 
flags  borrowed  from  the  garrison,  that,  with  the  whitewashed  ceil- 
ing above,  it  presented  a  very  complete  and  quite  pretty  ai)i)ear- 
ance.  It  was  not  so  warm,  however,  that  the  fires  of  cheerful 
hickory,  which  roared  at  either  end,  could  have  been  readily  dis- 
pensed with.  An  orchestra  of  unplaned  boards  was  raised  against 
the  wall  in  the  centre  of  the  room ;  the  band  consisted  of  a  dandy 
negro  with  his  violin,  a  fine  military-looking  bass  drummer  from 
the  Fort,  and  a  volunteer  citizen,  who  alternately  played  an  accom- 
paniment upon  the  flute  and  triangle.  Blackee,  who  flourished 
about  with  a  great  many  airs  and  graces,  was  decidedly  the  king 
of  the  company;  and  it  was  amusing,  while  his  head  followed  the 
direction  of  his  fiddle-bow  with  pertinacious  fidelity,  to  see  the 
Captain  Manual-like  precision  with  which  the  soldier  dressed  to 
the  front  on  one  side,  and  the  nonchalant  air  of  importance  which 
the  cit  attempted  to  preserve  on  the  other. 

As  for  the  company,  it  was  such  a  complete  medley  of  all  ranks, 
ages,  professions,  trades,  and  occupations,  brought  together  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and  now  for  the  first  time  brought  together, 
that  it  was  amazing  to  witness  the  decorum  with  which  they  com- 
mingled on  this  festive  occasion.  The  managers  (among  whom 
were  some  officers  of  the  garrison)  must  certainly  be  an  fait  at 

but — with  the  existing  condition  of  the  place,  with  the  alterations  that  have 
taken  place  since  the  writer  left  there,  not  yet  a  year  ago.  He  is  inforine<i  hy 
a  gentleman,  recently  from  Illinois,  that  Chicago,  which  but  eighteen  niontli^ 
since  cont4ined  but  two  or  three  frame-buildings  and  a  few  miserable  hut-., 
has  now  five  hundred  houses,  four  hundred  of  which  have  been  erecte.1  thi- 
year,  and  two  thousand  two  hundred  inhabitants.  A  year  ago,  there  w.as  not 
a  place  of  public  worship  in  the  town;  there  are  now  five  churches  and  two 
school-houses,  and  numerous  brick  stores  and  warehouses.  The  shipping-lisls 
of  daily  arrivals  and  departures  show  how  soon  the  enterprise  and  activity  of 
our  citizens  have  discovered  and  improved  the  capabilities  of  that  port.  1  here 
have  been  three  hundred  arrivals  this  year,  and  more  than  50,000  <lol!ar>  wortli 
•of  salt  has  been  sold  there  this  season,  and  of  European  and  domestic  mer- 
chandise to  the  amount  of  400,000  dollars.  A  line  of  four  steam-boats,  of 
the  largest  class  of  lake-boats,  and  regular  lines  of  brigs  and  schooners  arc 
now  established  between  that  port  and  the  principal  ports  of  the  lower  lakes. 
It  is  gratifying  to  hear  of  .such  improvement  in  the  western  country,  and  to 
have  predictions^  so  recently  made  of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  this  jwint 
in  particular,  thus  far  more  than  fulfilled. 
2 


1 8  A  WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

dressing  a  lobster  and  mixing  regent's  punch,  in  order  to  have 
produced  a  harmonious  compound  from  such  a  collection  of  con- 
trarieties. The  gayest  figure  that  was  ever  called  by  quadrille- 
playing  Benoit  never  afforded  me  half  the  amusement  that  did 
these  Chicago  cotillons.  Here  you  might  see  a  veteran  officer  in 
full  uniform  balancing  to  a  tradesman's  daughter  still  in  her  short 
frock  and  trousers,  while  there  the  golden  aiguillette  of  a  handsome 
surgeon*  flapped  in  unison  with  the  glass  beads  upon  a  scrawny 
neck  of  fifty.  In  one  quarter,  the  high-placed  buttons  of  a  linsey- 
woolsey  coat  would  be  dos  a  dos  to  the  elegantly  turned  shoulders 
of  a  delicate-looking  Southern  girl ;  and  in  another,  a  pair  of  Cin- 
derella-like slippers  would  chassez  cross  with  a  brace  of  thick-soled 
broghans,  in  making  which,  one  of  the  lost  feet  of  the  Colossus 
of  Rhodes  may  have  served  for  a  last.  Those  raven  locks,  dressed 
a  la  Madoivie,  over  eyes  of  jet,  and  touching  a  cheek  \\4iere  blood 
of  a  deeper  hue  mingles  with  fehe  less  glowing  current  from  Euro- 
pean veins,  tell  of  a  lineage  drawn  from  the  original  owners  of  the 
soil ;  while  these  golden  tresses,  floating  way  from  eyes  of  heaven's 
own  color  over  a  neck  of  alabaster,  recall  the  (lOthic  ancestry  of 
some  of  "England's  born."  How  piquantly  do  these  trim  and 
beaded  leggius  peep  from  under  that  simple  dress  of  black,  as  its 
tall  nut-brown  wearer  moves,  as  if  unconsciously,  through  the 
graceful  mazes  of  the  dance.  How  divertingly  do  those  inflated 
gigots,  rising  like  windsails  from  that  little  Dutch-built  hull,  jar 
against  those  tall  plumes  which  impend  over  them  like  a  commo- 
dore's pennant  on  the  same  vessel. 

But  what  boots  all  these  incongruities,  when  a  spirit  of  festive 
good-humor  animated  every  one  \)resent?  "It  takes  all  kinds  o 
people  to  make  a  world,"  (as  I  hear  it  judiciously  observed  this 
side  the  mountains);  and  why  should  not  all  these  kinds  of  peo- 
ple be  represented  as  well  in  a  ballroom  as  in  a  legislature?  At 
all  events,  if  I  wished  to  give  an  intelligent  foreigner  a  favorable 
opinion  of  the  manners  and  deportment  of  my  countrymen  in  the 
aggregate,  I  should  not  wish  a  better  opportunity,  after  explaining 
to  him  the  materials  of  which  it  was  composed,  and  the  mode  in 
which  they  were  brought  together  from  every  section  of  the  Union, 
than  was  afforded  by  this  very  ball.  "This  is  a  scene  of  enchant- 
ment to  me,  sir,"  observed  an  officer  to  me,  recently  exchanged 
to  this  post,  and  formerly  stationed  here.  "There  were  but  a  few' 
traders  around  the  Fort  when  I  last  visited  Chicago;  and  now  I 
can't  contrive  where  the  devil  all  these  well-dressed  people  have 
come  from!"     I  referred  him  to  an  old  resident  of  three  months 

*  Dr.  Philip  Maxwell,  born  at  Guilford,  Winham  Co.,Vt.,  April  3,  1799;  app'c 
Ass't-.Surg.  U.S.A.,  1832;  arr'd  at  Chicago,  Mar.  15,  1833;  died  Nov.  5,  1859, 


A    \\1N11;r    in     Tin;    WKSI'.  lo 

standing,  to  whom  I  had  just  been  introduced,  but  he  could  throw 
no  Hght  u])on  the  subject;  and  we  left  the  matter  of  i)c()|»lint;  Chi- 
cago in  the  same  place  where  philosophers  have  put  the  (luc^tioii 
of  the  original  peopling  of  the  continent.  1  made  several  new- 
acquaintances  at  this  new-year's  ball,  and  jjarticularly  with  ihi- 
officers  of  the  garrison,  from  whose  society  I  promise  myself  much 
pleasure  during  my  stay. 

The  geographical  position  of  Chicago  is  so  important,  that  I 
must  give  you  a  more  minute  description  of  the  place  in  my  next. 
Would  that  in  folding  this  I  could  enclose  you  half  the  warm'wishfs 
for  your  welfare  Avhich  the  season  awakens  in  my  bosom  ! 

Chicago,  III.,  yan.  lo,  iSj^. 
I  HAVE  been  here  more  than  ten  days,  without  fulfilling  the 
promise  given  in  my  last.  It  has  been  so  cold,  indeed,  as  almost 
to  render  writing  impracticable  in  a  place  so  comfortless.  'J'he 
houses  were  built  with  such  rapidity,  during  the  summer,  as  to  be 
mere  shells;  and  the  thermometer  having  ranged  as  low  as  28  be- 
low zero  during  several  days,  it  has  been  almost  impossible,  not- 
withstanding the  large  fires  kept  up  by  an  attentive  landlord,  to 
prevent  the  ink  from  freezing  while  using  it,  and  one's  fingers 
become  so  numb  in  a  very  few  moments  when  thus  exercised. 
that,  after  vainly  trying  to  write  in  gloves,  I  ha\e  thrown  by  my 
pen,  and  joined  the  group,  composed  of  all  the  household,  around 
the  bai'-room  fire.  This  room,  which  is  an  old  log-cabin  aside  of 
the  main  house,  is  one  of  the  most  comfortable  places  in  town, 
and  is,  of  course,  much  frequented;  business  being,  so  f;ir  as  one 
can  judge  from  the  concourse  that  throng  it,  nearly  at  a  stand- 
still. Several  persons  have  been  severely  frost-bitten  in  paiising 
from  door  to  door;  and  not  to  mention  the  quantity  of  poultry 
and  pigs  that  have  been  frozen,  an  ox,  I  am  told;  has  perished 
from   cold  in  the  streets  at  noonday.     An  occasional   Indian.* 

*  The  indians  that  frequent  the  neighborhood  of  Chicago  ( i)ronoiincc<l 
Tskkazo^o),  though  not  so  numerous,  are  composed  of  the  same  ijiixturc  of 
different  tribes  which  Major  Long  noticed  ten  years  since.  They  are  chit-dy 
Pottawatomies  and  Ottawas,  with  a  few  Chippewas  (n-ciic-pe-wag),  and  a 
straggHng  Kickapoo  or  Miami;  and  a  great  admixture  of  the  diflcrenl  lan- 
guages (or  rather  dialects,  for  they  are  radically  the  same,)  of  the  three  hn.t 
prevails  there.  Among  them  are  many  who  have  borne  arms  .ig.-iinst  the 
Americans;  and  some  who  doubtless  took  a  part  in  the  mas.sacre  at  the  fall  o 
the  place  in  1S12.  The  particulars  of  that  bloody  affan-  are  yet  mentioneU 
with  horror  by  the  old  settlers.     They  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  follows: 

It  was  soon  after*  the  infamous  surrender  of  (Sen.  Hull  .at  Detroit,  when,  in 
pursuance  of  the  terms  entered  into  with  the  enemy. by  that  onicer,  who  wa.s 
commandant-in-chief  upon  the  North-west  frontier,   Capt.  Ilea.!,  the   com- 
mandant at  Chicago,  prepared  to  surrendert  his  post  to  the  brilish.      1  he  1  oi- 
The  day  before,  Aug.  15,  1812.  '   Kraaiate. 


20  A    WINTER    IX    THE    WEST. 

wrapped  in  his  blanket,  and  dodging  about  from  store  to  store 
after  a  dram  of  whiskey;  or  a  muffled-up  Frenchman,  driving 
furiously  in  his  cariole  on  the  river,  are  almost  the  only  human 
beings  abroad:  while  the  wolves,  driven  in  by  the  deep  snows 
which  preceded  this  severe  weather,  troop  through  the  town  after 
nightfall,  and  may  be  heard  howling  continually  in  the  midst  of  it. 
The  situation  of  Chicago,  on  the  edge  of  the  Grand  Prairie, 
with  the  whole  expanse  of  Lake  Michigan  before  it,  gives  the 
freezing  winds  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  prodigious  effect,  and 
renders  a  degree  of  temperature,  which  in  sheltered  situations  is 
but  little  felt,  almost  painful  here. 

"The  bleak  winds 
Do  sorely  ruftle;  for  many  a  mile  about, 
There's  scarce  a  bush." 

The  town  lies  upon  a  dead  level,  along  the  banks  of  a  narrow 
forked  river,  and  is  spread  oter  a  wide  extent  of  surface  to  the 
shores  of  the  Lake,  while  vessels  of  considerable  draught  of  water 
can,  by  means  of  the  river,  unload  in  the  centre  of  the  place.  I 
believe  I  have  already  mentioned  that  four-fifths  of  the  population 
have  come  in  since  last  spring;  the  erection  of  new  buildings 
during  the  summer  has  been  in  the  same  proportion :  and  although 

lavvatomies  and  other  hostile  Indians  in  the  vicinity  were  on  the  watch  for  the 
movement;  and  on  the  morning  when  the  garrisoa  evacuated  the  place,  they 
had  so  completely  succeeded  in  duping  Capt.  Wells,  the  credulous  and  unfor- 
tunate Indian  agent,  that  the  fatal  march  of  the  15th  October,*  1812,  was  pre- 
cipitated by  his  advice.  The  Americans  were  about  seventy  in  number,  with 
several  women  and  children;  and  they  were  escorted  from  the  shelter  of  the 
Fort  by  a  band  of  about  thirty  Miamis.  The  road  led  along  the  beach  of  the 
Lake,  with  those  short  sand-hills,  spoken  of  in  a  previous  letter,  extending 
along  the  route  between  the  Lake  and  the  open  prairie.  Behind  these  the  British 
Indians  lay  concealed;  and  when  the  Americans  had  proceeded  about  a  mile 
from  the  Fort,  the  wily  enemy  sprang  from  his  lair,  and  poured  down  a  mur- 
derous fire  from  the  beach.  Capt.  Heald  immediately  brought  his  men  to  a 
charge,  and  drove  the  Indians  from  the  nearest  sand-hill;  but  their  numbers 
were  so  great  that  they  formed  instantly  again  upon  his  flank.  His  party  was 
surrounded;  and  while  the  Miamis  in  a  manner  withdrew  their  protection, 
and  helped  to  swell  the  number  of  his  opponents,  the  little  force  of  Captain 
Heald  was  completely  cut  off  from  the  women  and  children,  who  were  cower- 
ing beneath  the  baggage  on  the  lake-shore.  The  Americans  fought  with  des- 
peration: but  such  a  handful  of  men  was  soon  cut  to  pieces;  and  scarcely  a 
man  survived  to  witness  the  atrocities  that  were  practised  upon  the  helpless 
creatures  upon  the  beach.  There  were  four  officers  killed  upon  the  spot; 
Capt.  Heald  and  his  wife  were  both  badly  wounded;  and  twelve  childrent 
were  butchered  on  the  shore,  or  shared  the  fate  of  their  mothers,  who  ran 
shrieking  over  the  prairie.  The  unhappy  Indian  agent,  who  was  among  the 
slain,  is  said  to  have  had  his  breast  cut  open,  and  his  heart  roasted  arid  eaten 
by  the  savage  foe. 

-August  15th,  1812.  t  Captain  Heald's  Letter,  dated  Pittsburg,  October  23,  1S12. 


A   WINTKR    IX     Till-:    W  l>r.  21 

a  place  of  such  mushroom  growth  can,  of  cuurse,  boast  of  but 
httle  soHd  improvement  in  the  way  of  l)uilding,  yet  contracts  have 
been  made  for  the  ensuing  season  which  must  soon  give  C'hicago 
much  of  that  metropohtan  appearance  it  is  destined  so  promptly 
to  assume.  As  a  pkice  of  lousiness,  its  situation  at  the  central 
head  of  the  Mississippi  ^'aUe\•  will  make  it  tlie  New  Orleans  of 
the  North;  and  its  easy  and  close  intercourse  with  the  most  tlour 
ishing  Eastern  cities  will  give  it  the  advantage,  as  its  capital  in- 
creases, of  all  their  improvements  in  the  mode  of  living. 

There  is  one  improvement  to  be  made,  however,  in  this  section 
of  the  country,  which  will  greatly  influence  the  permanent  value 
of  property  in  Chicago.  I  allude  to  a  canal  from  the  head  of 
Lake  Michigan  to  the  head  of  the  steam  navigation  on  the  Illi- 
nois, the  route  of  which  has  been  long  since  surveyed.  The 
distance  to  be  overcome  is  something  like  ninety  miles;  and  when 
you  remember  that  the  head-waters  of  the  Illinois  rise  within 
eleven  miles  of  Chicago  River,''  and  that  a  level  plain  of  not 
more  than  eight  feet  elevation  above  the  latter  is  the  only  inter- 
vening obstacle,  you  can  conceive  how  easy  it  would  be  to  drain 
Lake  Michigan  into  the  Mississippi  by  this  route:  boats  of  eigh- 

*  "The  Chicago  River,  is  about  two  [one]  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  has 
sufficient  depth  of  water  for  lake-vessels  to  where  it  forks  in  the  centre  of  the 
town.  The  southern  and  principal  branch  takes  its  rise  about  six  miles  from 
the  Fort,  in  a  swamp,  which  communicates  also  with  Desplaines,  one  of  tiie 
head  branches  of  the  Illinois.  This  swamp,  which  is  designated  by  the  Can.y 
dian  voyageurs  as  Le  Petit  Lac,  is  navigable  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year:  it 
has  been  frequently  traveled  by  traders  in  their  pirogues;  and  a  bateau  from 
St.  Louis,  loaded  with  provisions  for  the  garrison  at  Chicago,  has  through  thi- 
medium  passed  from  the  Mississippi  into  Lake  Michigan.  Major  Long  ob- 
serves, upon  passing  through  this  marsh  in  a  canoe,  "  We  were  delighted  at 
beholding  for  the  first  time  a  feature  so  interesting  in  itself,  but  which  we  had 
afterward  an  opportunity  of  observing  frequently  on  the  route;  rt:.:  the  divi- 
sion of  waters  starting  from  the  same  source  and  running  in  two  chfTerent  direc- 
tions, so  as  to  become  the  feeders  of  streams  that  discharge  themselves  into 
the  ocean/at  immense  distances  apart.  ''  *  *  When  we  consider  the 
facts  above  stated,  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclusion  that  an  elevation 
of  the  Lakes  a  few  feel  (not  e.xceeding  ten  or  twelve)  above  their  present  cvcl 
would  cause  them  to  discharge  their  waters,  partly  at  least,  into  the  t.im  " 
Mexico.  That  such  a  discharge  has  at  one  time  existed,  every  one  con^xr«ln 
with  the  nature  of  the  country  must  admit;  and  it  is  equally  ^Pf'^"'/.''"' ^'' 
expenditure  trifling  in  comparison  to  the  importance  of  the  object  w..uia  ai.ain 
render  Lake  Michigan  a  tributary  of  the  Mexican  C.ulf. 

"  In  July,  1S33,  Giles  Spring  and  myself  went  in  a  large  canoe  from  Chicago 
to  Riverside,  passing  through  Mud-Lake.  At  the  dividing  part  of  the  water, 
we  paused,  and  diverted  ourselves  by  sending  the  water  either  into  the  (.«ll 
of  Mexico  or  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  by  a  single  motion  of  the  paddle.  ^- 
JOHN  Dean  Caton,  Chicago,  April  7,  18S2. 


22  A    WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

teen  tons  have  actually  passed  over  the  intervening  prairie  at  high 
water.  Lake  Michigan,  which  is  several  feet  above  Lake  Erie, 
would  afiford  such  a  never-failing  body  of  water,  that  it  would 
keep  steam-boats  afloat  on  the  route  in  the  dryest  season.  St. 
Louis  would  then  be  brought  comparatively  near  to  New  York; 
while  two-thirds  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  would  be  su]3plied  by 
this  route  immediately  from  the  markets  of  the  latter.  This  canal 
is  the  only  remaining  link  wanting  to  complete  the  most  stupen- 
dous chain  of  inland  communication  in  the  world.  I  had  a  long 
conversation    this  morning  on  the  subject  with  Major  H.,*  the 

*  Henry  S.  Handy,  born  about  1804,  and  educated  at  Pontiac,  N.  Y. 

Practised  law  and  edited  a  newspaper  at  Salem,  Indiana  Annotator,  for  three 
years,  about  1827.  He  was  afterward,  for  a  time,  in  the  Pension  Office  at 
Washington.  Came  to  Chicago  June  17,  1833,  as  Assistant- Superintendent 
of  Chicago  Harbor;  appointed  by  President  Jackson. 

Died  at  Byfield,  Mich.,  in  1846. 

Chicago,  III.,  April  jtli,  1882. 

Dear  Sir: — Complying  with  request  contained  in  your  note  of  the  23d  ult.. 
I  have  made  investigation  in  relation  to  the  "Major  H."  referred  to  in  "Hoff- 
man's Winter  in  the  West,  1834,"  and  am  satisfied  that  through  some  mistake, 
probably  in  copying  from  the  original  manuscript,  the  letter  "  H  "  has  been 
substituted  for  "A." 

In  1834,  the  construction  of  the  pier  was  in  charge  of  Lieut.  James  Allen, 
ist-Dragoons,  U.  S.  Army,  serving  on  Engineer  duty  at  this  place  from  Janu- 
ary 10,  1834,  to  October  15,  1836.  A  synopsis  of  his  military  record,  taken 
from  "  Cullom's  Register  of  the  Graduates  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy, " 
is  as  follows: 

James  Allen.      Graduate  No.  575.      Class  Rank,  jj. 

Born  in  Ohio.     Appointed  from  Indiana. 

Military  History:  Cadet  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  from  July  i,  1825, 
to  July  I,  1829,  when  he  was  graduated  and  promoted  in  the  Army  to  Bvt.- 
2d-Lieut.,  5th  Infantry,  July  i,  1829.  2d-Lieut.,  5th  Infantry,  July  i,  1829. 
Served  on  frontier  duty  at  Fort  Brady,  Mich.,  1829-33,  and  Fort  Dearborn. 
111.,  (2d-Lieut.,  ist-Dragoons,  March  4,  1833,)  1833-34.  On  Engineer  duty, 
Jan.  10,  1834,  to  Oct.  15,  1836.  On  Frontier  duty,  (ist-Lieut.,  ist-Dragoons, 
May  31,  1835,)  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kan.,  1837.  On  Engineer  duty,  April 
10,  1837,  to  Dec.  28  (Captain,  ist-Dragoons,  June  30,  1837),  1838.  On 
Frontier  duty  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kan.,  1839  and  '40.  Pottawatomie  coun- 
try, 1840.  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kan.,  1840-42.  Fort  Gibson,  I.  T.,  1842. 
March  to  Fort  Atkinson,  lo.,  1842.  Fort  .Sanford,  lo.,  1842.  Raccoon 
Fork,  lo.,  1843.  Fort  DesMoines,  lo.,  1843-44.  Raccoon  Fork,  lo.,  1844. 
Fort  DesMoines,  lo.,  1844-45.  lixpedition  to  Lac  qui  parle,  1845.  Fort 
DesMoines,   lo.,    1845-46;  and  in  the  War  with  Mexico,    1846,  as  Lieut.- 


A    Wl.XrKR    IN    THE    WKST.  23 

United  States'  engineer,  who  is  engaged  in  superinlemliiig  tin- 
construction  of  a  pier  at  this  place.*  He  was  polite  enough  Xo 
sketch  the  main  features  of  the  route  with  his  i)encil,  in  sucli  a 
manner  as  to  make  its  feasibility  very  apparent.  The  canal  would 
pass  for  the  whole  distance  through  a  prairie  country,  where  evcr\ 
production  of  the  held  and  tlie  garden  can  be  raised  with  scarcel) 
any  toil,  and  where  the  most  prolific  soil  in  the  world  reciuires  no 
other  preparation  for  planting  than  passing  the  i)lough  over  its 

Colonel,  commanding  Mormon  Battalion  of  Missouri  Volunteers,  on  the  inarcli 
to  New  Mexico,  July  16  to  August  23,  1846. 

]J)ied,  August  23,  1846,  at  Fort  Leavenwortli,  Kan.     Aged  40. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connection 
that  while  on  duty  at  Fort  Brady,  Mich.  (Sault  Ste.  Marie),  in  1832,  beinj; 
then  a  lieutenant  of  the  5th  Infantrj',  he  accompanied  .Schoolcraft  on  an  expe- 
dition to,  and  beyond,  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  on  his  return. 
submitted  a  very  interesting  report  and  map  of  the  expedition,  whicli  were 
printed  in  Ex.  Doc.  No.  323;  H.  R.,  ist  Sess.,  23d  Congress. 

Referring  to  his  death  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  while  in  command  of  the  Mor- 
mon Battalion  en  route  to  Mexico,  Capt.  T.  J.  Lee,  a  graduate  of  the  U.  .s. 
Military  Academy,  in  the  Class  of  1830,  speaks  of  it  as  "A  great  loss  to  thr 
Service. "  Respectfully  yours, 

C.  J.   Lydecker,  Major  of  Engineers,  U.S.A. 

*  Chicago  Harbor.— The  following  figures,  giving  the  amounts  appro- 
priated in  the  years  named  by  Congress  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Harbor 
at  this  Tort,  will  prove  interesting.  The  work  done  by  the  Government  in- 
cludes the  straightening  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  building  of  the 
outer  harbor  south  of  the  piers,  and  the  work  already  done  under  Maj.  G.  J. 
Lydecker's  supervision  north  of  the  entrance  to  the  river.  When  the  comple- 
tion and  placing  in  position  of  the  cribs  for  the  outer  breakwater  north  of  the 
lighthouse,  a  safe  harbor  of  refuge  will  be  afforded  for  all  the  vessels  that  ar- 
rive at  the  port.  The  following  are  the  appropriations  and  the  years  in  which 
they  \^re  made : 

1833   $25,000 

1834 32,801 

1835 32,800 

1836 32,000 

1837 - 40,000 

1838 ---      30,000 

1843 25,000 

1844 -      30,000 

1852 20,000 

1866 88,704 

1868 35,000 


1870 100,000 

1871  ..- \QO,<XXi 

1872  '^.«» 

1873  ...- '^•0°° 

,874       75.000 

1875  "•'^•«« 

1876.. 5-«» 

1878 75.000 

1879 "i^'"^ 

18S0 '45.000 


_.       1881  _i55:2E2 

1869 29^700!  Total, $1,404,005 

-Daily  Chicago  Trilnotc,  March  30,  1882. 


24  A   WINTER    IN    THE   WEST. 

bosom.  I'he  most  effectual  mode  of  making  this  canal  would  be 
to  give  the  lands  along  its  banks  to  an  incorporated  company^ 
who  should  construct  the  work  within  a  certain  time.  The  mat- 
ter is  now  merely  agitated  at  elections  as  a  political  handle. 

yajuiary  ij. 

I  have  got  thus  far  in  a  letter  to  you,  when  several  officers  of 
the  garrison,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  hospitable  atten- 
tion and  many  agreeable  hours,  stopped  opposite  the  door  with  a 
train  of  carioles,  in  one  of  which  I  was  offered  a  seat,  to  witness- 
a  pacing-match  on  the  ice.  There  were  several  ladies  with  gen- 
tlemen in  attendance  already  on  the  river,  all  muffled  up,  after  the 
Canadian  fashion,  in  fur  robes,  whose  gay  trimmings  presented  a 
rich  as  well  as  most  comfortable  appearance.  The  horses,  from 
which  the  most  sport  was  expected,  were  a  black  pony  bred  in  the 
country,  and  a  tall  roan  nag  from  the  lower  Mississippi.  They 
paced  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in  something  less  than  three  minutes. 
I  rode  behind  the  winning  horse  one  heat,  and  the  velocity  with 
which  he  made  our  cariole  fly  over  the  smooth  ice  was  almost 
startling.  The  Southern  horse  won  the  race;  but  I  was  told  that 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  the  nags  from  his  part  of  the  country 
could  not  stand  against  a  French  pony. 

In  the  middle  of  the  chase,  a  wolf,  probably  roused  by  the 
sleigh-bells  from  his  lair  on  the  river's  bank,  trotted  along  the 
prairie  above,  within  gunshot,  calmly  surveying  the  sport.  The 
uninvited  presence  of  this  long-haired  amateur  at  once  suggested 
a  hunt  for  the  morrow,  and  arrangements  were  accordingly  made^ 
by  the  several  gentlemen  present,  for  that  most  exciting  of  sports, 
a  wolf-chase  on  horseback. 

It  was  a  fine  bracing  morning,  with  the  sun  shining  cheerily- 
through  the  still  cold  atmosphere  far  over  the  snow-covered  prai- 
rie, when  the  party  assembled  in  front  of  my  lodgings,  to  the 
number  of  ten  horsemen,  all  well  mounted  and  eager  for  the 
sport.  The  hunt  was  divided  into  two  squads;  one  of  which  was 
to  follow  the  windings  of  the  river  on  the  ice,  and  the  other  to 
make  a  circuit  on  the  prairie.  A  pack  of  dogs,  consisting  of  a 
greyhound  or  two  for  running  the  game,  Avith  several  of  a  heavier 
and  fiercer  breed  for  pulling  it  down,  accompanied  each  party. 
I  was  attached  to  that  which  took  the  river;  and  it  was  a  beauti- 
ful sight,  as  our  friends  trotted  off  in  the  prairie,  to  see  their  dif- 
ferent colored  capotes  and  gayly  e(iuipped  horses  contrasted  with 
the  bright  carpet  of  spotless  white  over  which  they  rode,  while  the 
sound  of  their  voices  was  soon  lost  to  our  ears,  as  we  descended 
to  the  channel  of  the  river,  and  their  lessening  figures  were  hid 


A    WINTER    IN     rilK    WHST.  2$ 

from  our  view  by  the  low  brush  which  in  some  places  skirted  iis 
banks.  The  brisk  trot  in  which  we  now  broke,  brought  us  ra|ji(lly 
to  the  place  of  meeting;  where,  to  the  disappoininient  of  i.-a<:h 
party,  it  was  found  that  neither  had  started  any  game.  Wc  nciw 
spread  ourselves  into  a  broad  line,  about  gunshot  ajiart  from  each 
other,  and  began  thus  advancing  into  the  prairie.  We  iiad  not 
swept  it  thus  more  than  a  mile,  when  a  shout  on  the  e.xtreme  left, 
with  the  accelerated  pace  of  the  two  furthermost  riders  in  that 
direction,  told  that  they  had  roused  a  wolf  "  The  devil  take  the 
hindermost,"  was  now  the  motto  of  the  company,  and  each  one 
spurred  for  the  spot  with  all  eagerness.  Unhappily,  Jiowever,  the 
land  along  the  bank  of  the  river,  on  the  right,  was  so  broken  by 
ravines,  choked  up  with  snow,  that  it  was  impo.ssible  for  us,  who 
were  half-a-mile  from  the  game  when  started,  to  come  up  at  all 
with  the  two  or  three  horsemen  who  led  the  pursuit.  Our  horses 
sunk  to  their  cruppers  in  the  deep  snow-drift.  Some  were  re|)eat- 
edly  thrown ;  and  one  or  two,  breaking  their  saddle-girth.s,  from 
the  desperate  struggles  their  horses  made  in  the  snow-banks,  were 
compelled  to  abandon  the  chase  entirely.  My  stout  roan  carried 
me  bravely  through  all;  but  when  I  emerged  from  the  last  ravine 
on  the  open  plain,  the  two  horsemen  who  led  the  chase,  from 
some  inequality  in  the  surface  of  the  prairie,  were  not  visil)le; 
while  the  third,  a  fleet  rider,  whose  tall  figure  and  Indian  head- 
dress had  hitherto  guided  me,  had  been  just  unhorsed,  and,  aban- 
doning the  game  afoot,  was  now  wheeling  off  apparently  with 
some  other  object  in  view.  Following  on  the  same  course,  we 
soon  encountered  a  couple  of  oflicers  in  a  train,  who  were  just 
coming  from  a  mission  of  charity  in  visiting  the  half- starved  or- 
phans of  a  poor  woman,*  who  was  frozen  to  death  on  the  prairie, 
a  day  or  two  since— the  wolves  having  already  picked  her  bones 
before  her  fate  became  known.  One  by  one,  our  whole  i)arty 
collected  around  to  make  inquiries  about  the  poor  children. 

It  <vas  now  about  eleven  o'clock ;  we  were  only  twel\  e  miles 
from  Chicago;  and  though  we  had  kept  up  a  pretty  round  pace, 
considering  the  depth  of  the  snow,  in  coursing  backward  and  for- 
ward since  eight,  our  horses  generally  were  yet  in  good  condition, 
and  we  scattered  once  more  over  the  prairie,  with  the  hope  ot 
rousing  more  game. 

*  "Mrs.  Smith,  wife  of  a  Mr.  Smith  residing  at  Bhie  Isl.nmi,  "''o  '«;;'  ''''^ 
place  2d  of  January  (which  was  the  coldest  day  ^e  have  experienced  t h  s  «,n 
ter)  for  her  home,  and  when  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  her  ^^'^  ''"g.;»;  J"^ 
benumbed  (ind  exhausted  to  rise  no  more.  ^Vhen  found,  -^'!*=  V\;  ^'^  fi^ 
mangled  and  torn  to  pieces  by  the  wolves.  She  has  le  t  .a  husb.ind  and  h>c 
children  to  mourn  her  untimely  end."-C/nca!;o  Democrat,  Jan.  -N  l^J4• 


26  A   WIXTER    IX    THE    WEST. 

Not  ten  minutes  elaped  before  a  wolf,  breaking  from  the  dead 
-weeds  which,  shooting  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
.snow,  indicated  the  banks  of  a  deep  ravine,  dashed  off  into  the 
prairie,  pursued  by  a  horseman  on  the  right.  He  made  instantly 
for  the  deep  banks  of  the  river,  one  of  whose  windings  was  within 
a  few  hundred  yards.  He  had  a  bold  rider  behind  him,  however, 
in  the  gentleman  who  led  the  chase  (a  young  educated  half-blood, 
of  prepossessing  manners,  and  well  connected  at  Chicago*). 
The  precipitous  bank  of  the  stream  did  not  retard  this  hunter 
for  a  moment;  but,  dashing  down  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  he  was 
hard  upon  the  wolf  before  he  could  ascend  the  elevation  on  the 
opposite  side.  Four  of  us  only  reached  the  open  prairie  beyond 
in  time  to  take  part  in  the  chase.  Nothing  could  be  more  beauti- 
ful. There  was  not  an  obstacle  to  oppose  us  in  the  open  plain; 
and  all  our  dogs  having  long  since  given  out,  nothing  remained  but 
to  drivethe  wolf  to  death  on  horseback.  Away,  then,  we  went,  shout- 
ing on  his  track;  the  hotly-pursued  beast  gaining  on  us  whenever  the 
crust  of  a  deep  snow-drift  gave  him  an  advantage  over  the  horse, 
and  we  in  our  turn  nearly  riding  over  him  when  we  came  to  ground 
comparatively  bare.  The  sagacious  animal  became  at  last  aware 
that  his  course  would  soon  be  up  at  this  rate,  and  turning  rapidly 
in  his  tracks  as  we  were  scattered  over  the  prairie,  he  passed 
through  our  line,  and  made  at  once  again  for  the  river.  He  was 
cut  off  and  turned  in  a  moment  by  a  horseman  on  the  left,  who 
happened  to  be  a  little  behind  the  rest;  and  now  came  the  keen- 
est part  of  the  sport.  The  wolf  would  double  every  moment 
u])on  his  tracks,  while  each  horseman  in  succession  would  make 

"  Madore  Benjamin  Beaubien  was  born  at  Grand  River,  Mich.,  July  15, 
1809,  and  is  the  second  and  oldest  living  son  of  the  late  Gen.  Jean  Baptiste 
Beaubien,  whose  grandfather  was  a  Frenchman,  and  Mah-naw-bun-no-quah, 
his  first  wife,  a  Pottawatomie  woman.  His  early  days  were  spent  in  Chicago 
and  vicinity.  When  about  fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Carey  Mission, 
near  Niles,  Mich.,  then  in  charge  of  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy,  where  he  was  pre- 
pared for  and  sent  to  Hamilton  College,  Madison  Co.,  X.Y.,  being  there  four 
3'ears — his  elder  brother,  Charles  H.,  who  died  about  1858,  was  educated 
at  Princeton  College,  N.J. — he  was  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Town  of  Chicago;  was  a  merchant  and  did  business  on  the  S.-W.  cor. 
of  South  Water  and  Dearborn  Streets,  and  his  old-time  partner  was  our  well- 
known  citizen,  Dr.  ^'alentine  A.  Boyer,  whose  sister  was  Mr.  Beaubien's  first 
wife.  He  left  Chicago  for  his  Western  home,  in  the  fall  of  1840,  with  his 
Pottawatomie  friends,  whose  business  agent  he  has  been,  as  well  as  the  Mayor 
of  the  city  near  where  they  now  reside,  .Silver  Lake,  .Shawnee  Co.,  Kansas. — 
Geo.  H.  Fergus,  Chicago,  April  12,  1S82. 


A   WINTKR    IX    Till';    \Vi;ST. 


27 


I  dash  at  and  turn  him  in  a  different  direction.  Twice  I  was  near 
enough  to  strike  him  with  a  liorsewhip.  and  once  he  was  under  my 
horse's  feet;  while  so  furiously  did  each  rider  ])ush  at  him,  that  as 
we  brushed  by  each  other  and  confronted  horse  to  horse,  while- 
Tiding  from  different  quarters  at  full  speed,  it  re<|uired  one  some- 
what used  "to  turn  and  wind  a  fiery  Pegasus"  to  maintain  his 
seat  at  all.  The  rascal,  who  would  now  and  then  look  over  liis 
shoulder  and  gnash  his  teeth,  seemed  at  last  as  if  he  was  about 
to  succumb;  when,  after  running  a  few  hundred  yards  in  an 
oblique  direction  from  the  river,  he  suddenly  veered  his  course, 
at  a  moment  when  every  one  thought  his  strength  was  s])ent,  and 
gaining  the  bank  before  he  could  be  turned,  he  disa])peared  in  an 
instant.  The  rider  nearest  to  his  heels  became  entangled  in  the 
low  boughs  of  a  tree  which  grew  near  the  spot;  while  I,  who  fol- 
lowed next,  was  thrown  out  sufticiently  to  give  the  wolf  time  to 
get  out  of  view  by  my  horse  bolting  as  he  reached  the  sudden 
edge  of  the  river.  The  rest  of  the  hunt  were  conseciueiitly  at 
fault  when  they  came  up  to  us;  and  after  trying  in  vain  to  track 
our  lost  quarry  over  the  smooth  ice  for  half  an  hour,  we  were  most 
vexatiously  compelled  to  abandon  the  pursuit  as  fruitless,  and  pro- 
ceed to  join  the  other  squad  of  our  party,  who  could  now  be  seen 
at  some  distance,  apparently  making  for  the  same  point  to  which 
our  route  was  leading.  A  thicket  on  the  bank  soon  hid  them  fron) 
our  view;  and  we  then  moved  more  leisurel\-  along  in  order  to 
breathe  our  horses.  But  suddenly  the  distant  cry  of  hounds  gave 
intimation  that  new  game  was  a-foot;  and,  on  topping  a  slight 
elevation,  we  discerned  a  party  of  horsemen  far  awa\'.  with  three 
wolves  running  apparently  about  a  pistol-shot  ahead  of  them. 
Our  squad  was  dispersed  in  an  instant.  Some  struck  off  at  once 
in  the  prairie,  in  a  direct  line  for  their  object,  and  were  .soon 
brought  to  in  the  deep  snow-banks:  others,  taking  a  more  circuit- 
ous course,  proceeded  to  double  the  ravines  that  were  filled  with 
the  freacherous  drift;  and  some,  more  fortunate,  took  to  the 
frozen  river,  where  the  clatter  of  their  hoofs  on  the  hard  ice 
seemed  to  inspirit  their  horses  anew.  I  chanced  to  be  one  of  the 
latter,  and  was  moreover  the  first  to  catch  sight  again  of  one  o! 
the  animals  we  were  pursuing,  and  find  mysel!  nearer  to  Inm  than 
any  of  our  party.  The  wolf  was  of  the  large  gray  kind.  Hut  one 
of  the  hunters  had  been  able  to  keep  uj)  with  him;  ancl  him  1 
could  distinguish  far  off  in  the  prairie,  turning  and  winding  n.s 
foaming  horse  as  the  wolf  would  double  every  in..meiit  upon  his 
tracks,  while  half-a-dozen  dogs,  embarrassed  in  the  deep  rmov,. 
were  slowly  coming  up.  1  reached  the  spot  just  as  the  woll  first 
stood  at  bay.      His  bristling  back,  glaring  eyes,  and  ler...  .ous|^ 


28  A    WINTER    IN   THE   WEST. 

distended  jaws  might  have  appalled  the  dogs  for  a  moment;  when 
an  impetuous  greyhound,  who  had  been  for  some  time  pushing 
through  the  snow-drifts  with  unabated  industry,  having  now 
attained  a  comparatively  clear  spot  of  ground,  leaped  with  such 
force  against  the  flank  of  the  wolf  as  to  upset  him  in  an  instant, 
while  the  greyhound  shot  far  ahead  of  the  quarry.  He  recovered 
himself  instantly,  but  not  before  a  fierce,  powerful  hound,  whose 
thick  neck  and  broad  muzzle  indicated  a  cross  of  the  bull-dog 
blood  with  that  of  a  nobler  strain,  had  struck  him  first  upon  the 
haunch,  and  was  now  trying  to  grapple  him  by  the  throat.  Down 
again  he  went,  rolling  over  and  over  in  the  deep  snow,  while  the 
clicking  of  his  jaws,  as  he  snapped  eagerly  at  each  member  of  the 
pack  that  by  turns  beset  him,  was  distinctly  audible.  The  power- 
ful dog,  already  mentioned,  secured  him  at  last  by  fixing  his  muz- 
zle deeply  into  the  breast  of  the  prostrate  animal.  This,  however^ 
did  not  prevent  the  wolf  giving  some  fearful  wounds  to  the  other 
dogs  which  beset  him;  and,  accordingly,  with  the  permission  of 
the  gentleman  who  had  led  the  chase,  1  threw  myself  from  my 
horse,  and  gave  the  game  the  coup-de-grace  with  a  dirk-knife  which 
I  had  about  me.  Two  of  our  party  soon  after  joined  us,  each 
with  a  prairie-wolf  hanging  to  his  saddle-bow;  and  the  others 
gradually  collecting,  we  returned  to  Chicago,  contented  at  last 
with  the  result  of  our  morning's  sport. 

It  was  with  no  enviable  feelings,  I  assure  you,  that,  on  making 
my  arrangements  an  hour  ago  to  start  in  the  new  line  of  stage- 
coaches which  has  just  been  established  between  this  point  and 
St.  Louis,  I  found  myself  compelled  to  part  with  the  friend  to 
whom  I  was  chiefly  indebted  for  my  share  in  the  glorious  sports 
I  have  just  attempted  to  describe  to  you — the  four-footed  com- 
panion of  my  last  six  weeks'  rambles.  I  remember  being  once 
struck  with  the  remark  of  an  ingenious  writer  in  the  Library  of 
Useful  Knowledge,  when,  in  discussing  the  real  and  the  relative 
value  of  horses,  he  observes  that  the  commonest  hackney,  if  in 
every  respect  suiting  his  owner,  is  priceless  to  the  possessor.  A 
favorite  horse,  in  fact,  though  his  estimation  may  only  depend 
upon  the  whim  of  his  master,  is  one  of  this  world's  goods  which 
can  never  be  thoroughly  replaced.  It  is  not,  however,  when  the 
charge  of  such  property  falls  exclusively  to  grooms  and  others 
from  one  end  of  the  year  to  another  that  you  feel  its  value :  the 
stall-fed  palfrey,  which  you  drive  along  a  turnpike  from  one  hotel 
to  another,  and  abandon  when  he  falls  sick  for  some  other  means 
of  conveyance,  with  as  little  concern  as  you  would  exchange  your 
trunk  for  a  portmanteau,  or  vice  versa,  has  but  little  hold  on  one's 
feelings  in  comparison  with  the  hearty  animal  witli  which  you 


A   WINTER    IN    TIIK    Wl.ST.  29 

wander  away,  where  he  meets  with  no  care  but  such  as  you  bestow 
upon  him;  and  when  you  in  turn  become  wholly  dcitendc-nl  upon 
him  for  overcoming  distances  and  difficulties  Ix-twcen  jjlaccs  so 
remote  from  each  other,  that  not  only  your  comfort,  but  some- 
times your  personal  safety,  depend  upon'acc()mi)lishing  the  inter- 
vals within  certain  periods;  when  you  push  ahead  through  falling 
sleet,  ford  rivers,  plunge  through  snow-banks,  or  cross  morasses, 
where  the  matted  grass,  spreading  its  carpet  over  the  shaking 
slough,  embarrasses  and  wearies  the  stej)  of  your  sagacious  ([uad- 
ruped,  while  it  prevents  his  feet  from  sinking  into  the  dangerous 
quagmire  beneath.  Three  weeks  of  such  intercourse  between 
man  and  brute  are  like  three  rainy  days  when  one  is  shut  up  in  a 
country-house  with  strangers:  they  cherish  a  fellowshijj  more  cor- 
dial than  years  of  ordinary  intercourse  could  engender.  It  is  no 
little  consolation  to  me  ihat  I  leave  my  Bucephalus  in  excellent 
hands;  nor  does  this  necessary  separation  so  engross  my  syin|)a- 
thies  that  I  have  none  to  spare  for  other  partings.  Upoi:  these 
however,  I  shall  not  dilate  here ;  though  you  must  not  be  surprised 
to  find  me  returning  more  than  once  hereafter  to  characters, 
scenes,  and  incidents  at  Chicago,  which  1  have  hitherto  left  un- 
touched. 

Banks  of  the  Au  Sabi.i:.  Illinois,  jfaii.  /j. 

It  was  about  eight  o'clock,  and  a  bright,  cold  morning,  when  a 
handsome  four-horse  stage-coach,  built  in  New  York,  and  placed 
with  more  liberality  than  judgment  on  a  route  where  a  broad- 
tired,  low-hung,  and  light  wagon  would  be  much  more  appropri- 
ate,— drove  up  to  my  cpiarters  at  Chicago;  and,  having  received 
my  luggage,  crossed  the  river  on  the  ice,  and  was,  a  few  moments 
after,  traveling  through  the  deep  snow  over  the  Crand  Prairie. 
My  fellow-passengers  were,  a  respectable,  middle-aged  female  and 
a  smartly-dressed  young  man  of  amiable  appearance,  who.se  hand 
some'' broadcloth  suit,  worn  as  a  traveling-dress,  besi;uke  the  fav- 
ored beau  of  some  country  village,  or  possibly  a  thriving  young 
clerk  from  the  city,  engaged  upon  some  agency  business,  and 
traveling  in  the  style  which  he  thought  would  best  comport  with 
the  dignity  of  his  emplovers.  The  driver  was  also  accompanied 
on  the  box  by  a  well-made  young  half-blood  Chip])ewa.  ol  about 
five-and-twenty,  who  had  come  down  from  Mackmac  to  se A  em- 
ployment, and  was  now  going  further  south  for  the  same  object. 
The  air  being  rather  sharp  on  the  prairie,  the  lady  took  •i^t j-^'i^* 
between  the  young  gentleman  and  myself  and  thus  wedged  in 
together,  we  contrived  to  keep  very  comfortable :  though  our  near 
neighborhood  did  not  render  us  more  communicative  than  people 


30  A   WINTER   IX    Tin:    WEST. 

generally  are  after  an  early  Ijreaktast.  We  merely  exchanged  the 
ordinary  commonplaces  whicji  custom  exacts  from  people  thus 
thrown  together;  and  then,  unless  when  a  wolf  passing  near  our 
track,  or  a  particularly  large  pack  of  grouse  rising  before  us, 
called  forth  some  exclamation,  but  few  words  were  spoken  by  any 
of  the  company.  At  length,  after  having  counted  six  wolves 
within  twice  as  many  miles,  we  approached  a  grove  of  timber, 
where,  while  the  trees  grew  quite  densely  in  the  centre,  a  few 
thin  rows  shot  out  like  a  reef  of  rocks  from  the  shadowy  island, 
far  into  the  prairie.  Here,  on  the  edge  of  a  deep  gully,  through 
which  winds  the  River  Au  Plaine,  was  the  log-tavern  at  which  {he 
first  stage  of  our  day's  journey,  being  twelve  miles,  concluded. 
The  horses  were  in  a  complete  foam  with  their  exertions  in  get- 
ting through  the  deep  snow-drifts  across  the  prairie,  and  I  easily 
persuaded  the  driver  to  abandon  the  comibrtable  but  cumbersome 
vehicle  which  had  brought  us  so  far,  and  hitch  his  smoking  team, 
which  had  still  twelve  miles  to  go,  to  a  rough  but  strongly-built 
sled  before  the  door.  My  fellow-passengers  approved  the  arrange- 
ment, and  subsequent  events  proved  it  a  very  fortunate  one;  for 
so  deep  was  the  snow  on  many  parts  of  the  road  afterward  tra- 
versed, that  it  would  have  been  impracticable  to  get  a  wheel- 
carriage  forward,  and  it  must  have  been  deserted  on  the  prairie. 
There  was  much  to  do,  however,  about  our  new  equipage,  before 
we  could  get  started;  and  while  our  driver  looked  after  his  horses, 
one  of  the  passengers  had  to  shovel  the  snow  out  of  the  sleigh, 
another,  to  drive  a  pin  through  the  tongue,  in  order  to  fasten  on 
the  leaders ;  and  a  third,  after  filling  the  bottom  with  hay,  to  ad- 
just the  baggage,  etc.  All  this,  with  the  aid  of  the  stout  Chippe- 
wa and  the  active  young  eastern  traveler,  was  soon  eftected;  and 
the  former,  taking  his  seat  with  the  driver  on  a  board  in  front, 
while  the  latter  shared  half  of  my  buffalo  robes,  and  stowed  him- 
self upon  the  hay  with  me  in  the  rear :  tnadamc  was  well  accom- 
modated, with  the  cushions  taken  from  the  stage,  on  a  trunk 
placed  in  the  middle;  and  some  heated  stones  being  brought 
from  the  house  and  placed  beneath  her  feet,  just  as  we  started, 
no  grandmother  could  sit  more  comfortably  in  her  cushioned  pew 
in  old  Trinity.  A  fast  drive  of  twelve  miles  brought  us  at  noon 
to  another  island  of  timber,  where  a  little  piquant  girl  of  sixteen, 
■with  !?loe-black  eyes  and  glossy  locks  as  dark  as  night,  arranged  a 
plain  but  neat  meal  for  us,  and  gave  a  rehsh  to  the  entertainment 
by  loosing  one  of  the  most  vivacious  tongues  I  had  heard  wag  in 
the  last  three  months.  Here  we  changed  horses,  and  a  ride  of 
sixteen  miles  more  brought  us  about  nightfall  to  a  place  called 
"Walker's  Grove,""  where  two  or  three  log-huts  were  sheltered 


A    WINTKR    1\    Till':    WKsT.  3, 

from  the  north  wind  under  an  island  of  tall  tinil)cr,  and  in  one  ui 
which  we  have  established  ourselves  for  the  iii_t;ht.  A  pile  of  bur- 
oak,  which  makes  a  capital  fire,  flames  up  the  enormous  woodc-n 
chimney  before  me,  and  a  number  of  stout  yeomen  around  it, 
engaged  in  discussing  the  price  of  horses  on  the  Wabash,  prevent 
me,  while  handling  a  matter  of  such  moment,  from  cnlar^-inj^ 
more  upon  the  few  objects  of  interest  which  have  presented  them- 
selves today. 

•  Ottawa,  li  iinois,  yanuary  16. 

I  was  hardly  dressed  this  morning,  wiien  my  only  remaining 
fellow-traveler — the  lady  and  the  half-blood  having  parted  com- 
pany last  evening — called  me  to  the  door  to  "see  the  cloud  ot 
prairie  hetis  before  it."'  I  looked  out,  and  there  indeed,  true 
enough,  the  oaks  within  gun-shot  of  the  porch  were  so  loaded 
with  grouse,  that  they  showed  more  like  a  flock  of  pigeons  than 
a  covey  of  game  birds.  Having  broken  my  gun,  however,  it  was 
intolerably  vexatious  to  see  such  capital  shots  thrown  away;  while 
these  fine  birds,  in  those  districts  where  I  was  prepared  to  bag 
them,  were  too  wild  to  approach  within  shooting  distance  at  all. 

The  sleigh  soon  after  came  to  the  door,  our  driver  having  dimin- 
ished his  team  by  two  horses,  to  meet  probably  the  reduction  of 
passengers  already  mentioned :  and  about  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  house,  we  crossed  a  broad  brook,  known  as  the  Au  .Sable 
River,  and  commenced  ascending  the  bank  beyond.      Hut  the 
snow  was  deep,  and  the  heavy  drift  having  had  its  surfice  frozen 
over  during  the  preceding  night,  our  single  pair  of  horses  were 
unable  to  drag  through  it  the  clumsy  sled  l)ehind  them.     They 
])lunged  in  up  to  their  chests.     "Go  ahead,  Sam!  gie  up,  >Iajor 
shouted  the  driver.     But  Sam  was  thoroughly  planted;  while  the 
Major,   in   trying   to  sustain   his   military  character  by  <jlieying 
orders,  gave  one  spring,  and,  floundering  over  the  traces,  was 
buried  in  the  snow  up  to  his  crupper,  and  placed,  nolens  vol f us.  in 
full  as  quiescent  a  condition  as  the  already  settled  Sam.     For  all 
of  us  to  get  out  and  take  hold  of  the  bits  was  the  next  move: 
but  it  wouldn't  do.     Sam,  indeed,  seemed  a  little  mclmed  to 
make  a  retrograde  movement,  by  kicking  out  the  footboard  with 
his  heels;  while  the  Major,  having  gathered  new  energy  for  .in- 
other  charge,  wasted  his  fire  in  lifting  up  his  knees  as  high  as  his 
mouth,  and  ineff"ectually  throwing  his  fore  hoois  in  advance  on 
the  crusted  snow;  handling  his  feet  the  while  much  alter  the  maiv 
ner  of  the  rampant  unicorn  on  a  calico  stamj),  who,  unmindlul 
of  the  mottoed  garter  he  treads  under  his  foot,  so  bravelv  ijaus 
the  crown  which  the  complaisant  lion  is  pushing  toward  hi" 


im. 


32  A    WINTER    IX    THE    WEST. 

'J'he  driver  at  last  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  return- 
ing for  another  pair  of  horses ;  and  a  young  colt  called  Blackhawk, 
with  a  hoary  old  plough-horse  named  Judge,  were,  after  a  little 
delay,  procured,  and  placed  in  advance  of  Sam  and  the  Major  on 
the  top  of  the  bank.  Poor  Sam  seemed  to  dislike  having  the 
Judge's  fetlocks  brought  so  immediately  in  contact  with  his  nose, 
they  being  nearly  on  a  horizontal  line;  and  he  was  accordingly 
inclined  to  retreat  upon  his  haunches,  beneath  which  the  snow 
formed  so  easy  a  cushion ;  but  a  single  crack  from  the  driver's 
whip  sent  the  Major  charging  so  vigorously'  upon  Blackhawk,  that 
the  sable  young  chief  gave  a  bound  which  carried  us  through  the 
difficulty  in  a  trice,  and  sent  our  vehicle  skimming  far  over  the 
prairie. 

The  grove  in  which  we  had  passed  the  night  soon  vanished 
from  sight,  and  a  boundless  expanse  of  snow-covered  surface  lay 
like  an  ocean  before  us.  The  arch  of  the  clear  blue  sky  seemed 
to  spring  at  once  from  the  silvered  earth,  which  shown  under  the 
bright  January  sun  with  an  intensity  almost  painful  to  the  eye. 
The  blue  vault  above,  and  the  white  plain  below,  were  the  only 
objects  that  met  its  glances  as  they  roamed  for  miles  around;  yet 
no  one  could  complain  of  sameness  in  the  tints  of  a  picture  so 
vast,  a  scene  so  illimitable.  The  immensity  of  the  prospect 
seemed  to  exclude  the  idea  of  monotony,  and  perfect  solitude  was 
only  wanting  in  such  a  scene  to  make  one  feel  its  grandeur.  The 
lively  rattle  of  my  companion,  however,  whose  society,  after  travel- 
ing so  long  entirely  alone,  I  found  no  slight  acquisition,  prevented 
me  from  realizing  its  full  effect;  and  when,  after  riding  for  about 
twelve  miles,  an  island  of  timber  hove  in  sight,  while  the  beautiful 
sky  of  the  morning  clouded  over,  and  the  cold  wind,  which  began 
to  set  in  from  the  west,  indicated  that  the  twelve  miles  we  had 
yet  to  travel  before  we  should  reach  the  first  house  across  this 
arm  of  the  prairie  would  be  anything  but  agreeable, — I  was  con- 
tented to  wrap  myself  as  closely  as  possible  in  my  buffalo  robe, 
and  join  him  in  a  game  oi  prairie  loo.  Lest  you  might  search 
vainly  in  Hoyle  for  this  pastime,  I  must  inform  you  that  the  game 
consists  merely  in  betting  upon  the  number  of  wild  animals  seen 
b}"  either  party  toward  the  side  of  the  vehicle  on  which  he  is  rid- 
ing, a  wolf  or  deer  counting  ten,  and  a  grouse  one.  The  game  is 
a  hundred ;  and  you  may  judge  of  the  abundance  of  these  animals 
from  our  getting  through  several  games  before  dinner, — my  com- 
panion looing  me  with  eleven  wolves.  Some  of  these  fellows 
would  stand  looking  at  us  within  half-gunshot,  as  we  rode  by  them; 
while  tlie  grouse  would  rise  continually  from  under  our  very  horses' 
feet. 


A    WIMKR    l.\    uii;    WKST. 


a 


Before  we  had  got  through  the  twenty-four  miles,  the  scent- 
enacted  at  starting  was  to  be  repeated  with  iniprovL-nicnt ;  for  on 
coniing  to  the  edge  of  a  frozen  gully,  our  two  leaders,  in  ihcir 
anxiety  to  avoid  former  difficulties,  gave  such  a  spring  that  they 
sunk  through  the  ice  to  their  shoulders  on  the  ojiposite  side; 
while  the  wheel-horses,  being  thrown  down,  were  driven  by  ihe 
runners  of  the  sleigh  against  the  sharp  edges  of  the  ice  tluis  ex 
posed,  and  one  of  them  was  terribly  lacerated.  It  was  the  unfor- 
tunate Sam,  who,  poor  fellow,  not  laaving  been  watered  since  the 
morning,  lay  quietly  on  his  side  in  the  traces,  with  his  fore-legs 
up  the  slope,  and  his  hinder  ones  in  the  pool,  eating  the  snow 
thus  brought  in  contact  with  his  mouth,  apparently  j)errectly  un- 
conscious of  his  wounds.  Blackhawk  and  the  Judge,  of  course, 
came  to  an  anchor  when  they  found  such  an  accumulated  weight 
dragging  behind  them;  while  the  spirited  Major  seemed  to  be 
thoroughly  dejected  at  this  second  discomfiture,  and  allowed  us  to 
turn  him  over  and  jnit  him  on  his  feet  with  scarcely  the  interposi- 
tion of  a  struggle.  Not  far  from  the  scene  of  this  catastrophe,  we 
crossed  the  Au  Page,  a  narrow  stream,  with  smooth  banks,  utterly 
divested  of  shrubbery;  and  after,  in  the  next  eight  miles,  encoun- 
tering two  or  three  tremendous  snow-banks,  where  our  horses 
were  frequently  immersed  to  their  cruppers,  and  whence  nothing 
but  the  leaders,  from  their  firm  footing  beyond,  dragging  the 
wheel-horses  through  the  heavy  drift,  could  have  extricated  us,  we 
reached  a  beautiful  grove  of  elms  and  oaks,  and  stopped  to  change 
our  worn-out  team. 

Entering  a  log-cabin,  not  at  all  diftering  from  the  usual  dwell- 
ings of  the  frontier  settlers,  I  found  a  choice  collection  of  books 
in  one  corner,— a  volume,  a  fine  old  edition,  of  Algernon  Sidney's 
works  being  the  first  book  I  took  up;  and,  upon  entering  into  con- 
versation with  the  occupants  of  the  cabin,  I  found  that  degree  ol 
general  cultivation  which,  though  not  unfrecjuently  met  with  on 
the  frontier,  still  always  strikes  a  stranger  with  novelty;  and  yet  I 
know  no  reason  while  the  fullest  expanding  of  the  intellect  is  m- 
compatible  with  the  handling  of  an  axe,  or  the  most  luxunani 
development  of  the  imagination  with  following  the  plough.  'I'he 
farmer,  of  all  operatives,  has,  perhaps,  the  most  time  tor  nnprove- 
ment;  and  when  he  dwells  in  a  land  where,  while  Nature  showers 
her  choicest  bounties,  man  passes  toward  it  from  every  side,  and 
contributes  on  his  new  coming  to  the  general  stock  of  ideas. 
keeping,  by  this  lively  interchange,  those  already  afloat  m  a«:tive 
circulation,  there  is  everything  in  his  circumstances  to  make  him 
acute  and  reflective,  and  to  liberalize  his  mind,  if  not  to  i)olish 
his  manners. 
3 


34  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

It  would  be  giving  you  a  wrong  impression,  however,  did  I 
allow  you  to  gather  from  this  that  the  oldest  western  settlers  of 
this  country  are  by  any  means  so  familiar  with  books  as  the  emi- 
grants from  the  East;  for  among  the  latter  there  are  many  persons 
of  altered  circumstances,  who,  having  once  enjoyed  better  oppor- 
tunities for  literary  culture,  carry  the  traces  of  their  old  habits 
with  them  into  the  new  scenes  to  which  they  so  readily  adapt 
themselves.  Fluency  of  language,  with  an  ease  and  power  of 
expression  which  sometimes  swells  to  the  dignity  of  eloquence, 
and  often  displays  itself  in  terms  of  originality  at  once  humorous 
and  forcible,  constitute  the  conversational  resources  of  the  western 
man;  but  as  his  knowledge  is  gathered  almost  altogether  from 
conversation,  he  wants  that  exact  acquaintance  with  facts  and 
things  which  enriches  the  intellectual  armory  of  his  eastern  brother 
in  a  similar  situation  of  life.  My  opportunities  as  yet  of  forming 
an  opinion  might,  perhaps,  be  ^[uestioned  by  one  who  did  not 
know  that  the  southern  part  of  Michigan,  and  the  northern  sec- 
tions of  Illinois,  are  settled  by  people  from  almost  every  State  in 
the  Union.  Having  now  traversed  them  both,  I  may  venture  the 
above  observation,  at  least  with  you. 

A  dinner  of  grouse  at  this  place  came  very  opportunely  after 
our  keen  ride  of  twenty-four  miles  over  the  prairie  without  once 
stopping;  and,  by  way  of  varying  our  customary  fare  of  bacon  and 
corn-bread  along  the  road,  we  purchased  a  few  brace  of  these  fine 
birds  for  a  mere  trifle,  there  being  at  hand  a  coopful  of  them  just 
caught  alive  upon  the  premises. 

It  was  just  sunset  when,  after  riding  about  thirteen  miles  over  a 
dreary-looking  prairie,  we  came  suddenly  to  one  of  those  steppes 
into  which  these  singular  plains  sometimes  break  so  beautifully ; 
and,  looking  down  over  two  broad  platforms,  which  successively 
projected  their  flat  surfaces  and  angular  edges  below  us,  beheld 
the  Illinois  River  winding  through  the  lowest  meadow,  and  receiv- 
ing its  tributary,  the  Fox  River,  opposite  the  little  village  of 
Ottawa.  It  seemed  to  repose  upon  a  rich  alluvial  flat,  with  the 
rocky  bluffs  of  the  Illinois  rising  in  a  regular  line  to  the  height  of 
seventy  or  eighty  feet  immediately  in  the  rear ;  while  their  rugged 
and  varying  outline,  both  above  and  below,  towered  opposite  to 
a  much  greater  height.  The  warm  light  of  the  setting  sun  resting 
upon  their  mossy  edges,  and  touching  with  freshness  an  evergreen 
that  sprouted  here  and  there  among  the  cliff's,  while  the  rising 
mists  of  evening  imparted  a  bluish  tint  to  the  distant  windings  of 
the  smooth  valley  below,  gave  an  Italian  softness  to  the  landscape 
but  little  in  unison  with  the  icy  rigors  that  enchained  the  streams 
to  which  in  summer  it  must  owe  its  greatest  beauty.     A  mile  or 


A    WINTER    IN    THK    WKST. 


35 


two  farther  brought  us  over  the  frozen  river  to  ihe  comlbnal>lc 
frame-Iiouse  from  which  this  letter  is  dated. 

(Ottawa,  which  is  situated  a  few  miles  above  the  head  of  steam- 
boat navigation  on  the  Illinois,  is,  from  its  central  situation,  grad- 
ually becoming  a  place  of  some  commercial  importance,  though 
still  a  mere  hamlet  in  size.  It  was  within  si.\  miles  of  this  phu  e 
that  the  worst  of  the  Indian  horrors  were  perpetrated  during  the 
difficulties  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  in  1832.  You  must  reniem 
ber  the  newspaper  accounts  of  every  member  of  two  fiimilies  be- 
ing butchered,  except  two  young  girls,  who  were  carried  intu  lap- 
tivity,  and  afterward  recovered  from  the  Indians.*  There  was  a 
singular  fatality  attending  this  melancholy  affair,  which  makes  it 
worth  while  to  recall  some  of  the  particulars.  According  to  my 
informant,  the  heads  of  both  families,  who  lived  in  the  .same  ur 
adjoining  houses,  had  more  than  once  removed  their  wives  and 
children  into  Ottawa,  upon  false  alarms  of  the  approach  of  the 
Indians;  and  one  of  them,  from  some  new  warning  on  the  very 
day  on  which  the  event  took  place,  was  again  mo\ing  the  united 
establishment  in  wagons  to  the  same  i)lace  of  security,  when  he 
met  the  other,  who  so  opposed  and  ridiculed  the  idea,  that  they 
returned  together.  An  hour  or  two  after,  they  were  at  work  with- 
in a  few  yards  of  the  door,  when  a  band  of  Indians  appeared,  and 
with  a  triumphant  yell  surrounded  the  house  in  an  instant.  Armed 
only  with  their  tools  of  husbandry,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
an  attack  upon  an  enemy  that  outnumbered  them  so  as  to  make 
the  attempt  to  get  into  the  house  and  reach  their  rifles  i)erfe(  i 
madness.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  they  were  shot  down,  toma- 
hawked, and  scalped  in  an  instant;  not,  however,  as  some  say, 
before  they  had  witnessed  some  of  the  atrocities  practised  upon 

■*  Mr.  Schoolcraft  says  tliat  no  female  captive  is  ever  saved  by  the  Indian^ 
from  base  motives,  or  need  fear  the  violation  of  her  lionor  :  "'I'he  whole  \u- 
-tory  of  their  wars  may  be  challenged  for  a  solitary  instance  of  the  violation  oi 
female  chastity.  When  they  resolve  to  spare  life,  they  also  resolve  to  -part- 
that  reputation  without  which  life  is  not  worth  jiossessing.  'I'hey  treat  thc-ni 
with  kindness  and  attention,  carrying  them  dry  across  rivers,  and  directini; 
what  with  them  is  accounted  an  act  of  distinguished  attention— that  their  hair 
shall  be  combed  every  morning.  The  precise  reason  for  this  trait  of  then 
character  has  never  been  fully  explained.  innate  principles  of  virtue  can 
hardly  be  supposed  to  be  sufficient  to  produce  so  universal  an  etlect,  thouj;!!  1: 
would  be  uncharitable  to  deny  that  they  have  their  .share.  It  is  .issertejl  that 
the  Indians  believe  that  the  taking  of  .such  a  dishonorable  advantage  ol  tiicir 
female  prisoners  would  have  the  effect  to  .lestroy  their  luck  in  huntint;.  H 
would  be  considered  as  a  trait  of  weakness  and  cfleminacy  in  a  w.nrrior,  un- 
worthy of  his  fame  and  reputation  for  manly  achievement.  It  would  cxuu 
the  ridicule  of  his  companions,  and,  as  they  believe,  be  displeasing  10  mc 
C.reat  .Spirit. "— 7;wrA- /«  t/u  Cottral  Forlkms  of  the  Mississippi  I  ^'H^v jj. 


36  A   WINTER    IN    THE   WEST. 

the  feebler  members  of  their  famiHes.     These,  before  and  after 
death,  are  too  shocking  to  mention. 

"Why,  sir,"  said  an  IHinois  man  to  me,  who  was  on  the  spot 
shortly  afterward,  "those  Indians  behaved  most  ridicu/ous.  They 
dashed  children's  brains  against  the  door-posts;  they  cut  off  their 
heads;  they  tore—  ;"  but  the  detail  to  which  my  informant  ap- 
plied so  quaint  an  epithet  is  one  that  I  would  not  think  for  a 
moment  of  giving  you.  I  must  not  forget  to  add,  that  the  two 
surviving  females,  after  losing  every  near  blood-relative  in  this 
horrible  manner,  have  lately  found  legal  protectors,  and  are  now 
settled  in  life  as  respectable  married  woman.  I  had  previously, 
even  as  far  north  as  the  borders  of  Michigan  in  Indiana,  seen 
stockades  erected  in  the  open  prairie  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
settlers,  with  other  similar  marks  of  the  late  border-strife,  but  had 
no  idea,  till  this  evening,  that  1  was  approaching  the  seat  of  the 
bloodiest  acts  of  the  unhappy  contest.  The  neutral  Indians,  who 
disappeared  from  this  part  of  the  country  at  the  time,  are  now,  I 
am  told,  disjiersed  again  in  large  numbers  over  the  neighborhood. 
They  are  perfectly  harmless;  but,  thou  treated  with  great  kind- 
ness, by  the  new  emigrants,  there  will  jirobably  never  again  be 
much  confidence  between  them  and  the  old  settlers.  The  latter 
somehow  seem  to  have  long  regarded  the  Indians  as  hereditary 
enemies;  and  the  events  of  1832  have  given  new  vigor  to  dislikes 
which  seemed  to  be  gradually  losing  their  rancor.  A  man  who 
has  to  plough  with  a  heavy  rifle,  ready-loaded,  slung  to  his  back, 
day  after  day,  while  he  fears  even  to  send  his  child  to  the  spring 
for  a  pail  of  water,  may  be  well  excused  for  being  warm  upon  a 
subject  which  must  thus  fill  his  thoughts  and  harass  his  mind 
throughout  each  hour  of  the  day.  It  is  therefore  useless  to  argue 
with  an  Illinois  "Indian-hater."  What  cares  he  for  the  "lean 
famine,  quartering  steel,  and  climbing  fire,"  which  you  tell  him 
often  beset  the  red  man's  wigwam  before  his  ancestors  made  good 
their  footing  on  another's  land.  He  thinks  but  of  the  frantic  out- 
rages he  has  witnessed  in  his  own  day.  He  thinks  of  his  often- 
abandoned  husbandry,  "while  that  the  coulter  rusts"  corrupting 
in  its  own  fertility.  He  thinks  of  his  butchered  friends  and 
neighbors, — of  his  wife  and  offspring  slaughtered  upon  his  hearth- 
stone,— and  asks  bitterly  how  you  could 

"  Look  to  see 
The  blind  and  bloody  savage  with   his  foul  hand 
Defile  the  locks  of  your  shrill-shrieking  daughters; 
Your  fathers  taken  by  the  silver   beards, 
And  their  most  reverend  heads  dashed  to  the  walls; 
Your  naked  infants  spitted  upon  pikes, 
While  the  mad  mothers  with  their  howls  confused 
Do  break  the  clouds. " 


A    WINTER    IN    TIIK    WKSr.  37 

An  accumulation  of  horrid  images,  which  shows  wiili  wliat  fL-arfwl 
fidelity  Shakspeare  would  have  painted  Indian  warlan-.  h.ul  these 
wild  tragedies  of  our  day  been  acted  in  his. 

Boyd's  Grove,   Illinois,  yan.  .>j//,,  /Sj^. 

It  was  so  long  since  1  had  seen  a  stone  at  all  deserving  the 
name  of  a  rock,  that  I  took  a  good  deal  of  satisfaction  in  scaling 
the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois,  and  traversing  the  adjacent  ravines,  be 
before  getting  out  on  the  prairie,  the  morning  that  I  left  Ottawa. 
In  one  of  these  rocky  gullies, — which  run  generally  at  right  angles 
to  the  river,  and  with  their  precipitous  walls  in  one  place,  and 
cavernous  passages  beneath  the  jutting  limestone  in  another, 
often  form  some  picturesque  dell,  or  afford  a  romantic  glimpse  nf 
the  open  country  beyond, — I  saw  the  first  cascade  1  have  met 
with  since  leaving  Pennsylvania.  The  fall  was  not  more  than  ten 
feet;  but  the  column  of  water,  being  frozen  in  a  solid  sheet,  as 
white  as  the  purest  porcelain,  presented  a  very  singular  ajjpear- 
ance  as  it  raised  its  pale  glistening  front  beneath  a  canopy  of 
stunted  cedars,  whose  green  branches  impended  from  the  rocks 
above.  Our  sleigh,  after  winding  for  some  time  among  this  broken 
ground,  and  passing  over  one  or  two  small  but  beautiful  pieces  oJ 
bottom  land  laying  among  the  ravines,  reached  at  last  the  top  of 
the  bluff,  where,  instead  of  descending  on  the  other  side,  the 
level  prairie  extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  beyond.  A 
few  hours'  drive  brought  us  to  a  log-cabin,  which  was  our  plate 
for  dining  and  changing  horses,  and  here  we  found  that,  owing  to 
the  newness  of  the  route,  arrangements  were  not  yet  completed 
for  the  public  conveyances  going  farther.  Hearing  a  stranger 
speaking  in  terms  of  enthusiasm  of  the  fine  view  from  "  .Starved 
Rock,"''^ — a  detached  crag  some  250  feet  high,  on  the  banks  oi 
the  Illinois,  where  one  band  of  Indians  was  surrounded  and 
starved  to  death  by  another  (I  refer  you  to  "Flint's  Valley  of  the 
'  Mississippi"  for  the  legend),*— I  made  arrangements  to  visit  ih.- 
spot  in  the  morning. 

A  chill  north-easter  swept  over  the  bleak  prairie  as  my  travel- 
ing companion  and  myself,  mounted  vqion  two  miserable  nags, 
neither  of  which  was  shod,  struck  on  an  Indian  trail,  that  brouglit 
us  in  an  hour's  ride  to  the  craggy  and  precipitous  banks  ol  ilu- 
Vermilion  River,  which  it  was  necessary  to  cross.  .\  sickly-look- 
ing but  rather  interesting  woman  came  out  of  a  miserable  log-luit 
—beside  which,  housed  under  a  few  boards,  stood  a  handsome 
barouche— to  direct  us  where  to  descend  the  bank :  and  my  fnend 

*  See  Fergus'  Historical  Series,  No.  3.  "The  Last  of  the  Illinois."  I'-y 
John  Dean  Caton,  LL.  D. 


38  A   WINTER   IN   THE   WEST. 

on  foot  leading  his  horse,  mine  followed  trembling  after  him ;  and. 
notwithstanding  the  steep  path  was  glazed  with  ice,  we  descended 
the  first  pitch  in  safety. 

Pausing  for  a  moment,  the  confused  masses  of  rock,  with  trees 
and  shrubs  of  all  kinds  growing  in  their  crevices,  reminded  me, 
as  I  looked  around,  of  more  than  one  scene  of  the  kind  in  the 
river  counties  of  my  native  State.  It  was  now  my  turn  to  lead 
down  the  next  pitch,  which  led  to  the  frozen  bed  of  the  river. 
Upon  gaining  the  edge,  I  perceived  that  the  descent  was  a  perfect 
glare  of  ice;  and  pausing  a  moment  to  hand  a  loaded  gun,  which 
I  carried,  to  my  companion,  lest  it  might  be  discharged  in  the 
accident  which  I  anticipated,  my  horse  lost  his  footing  even  as  I 
turned  in  the  saddle,  and  falling  flat  over  upon  me,  down  we  slid 
together.  I  had  not  gone  two  yards,  however,  before  a  small  jut- 
ting rock  brought  me,  but  little  bruised,  to  an  anchorage,  while 
my  unfortunate  consort,  after  sliding  over  a  part  of  my  person, 
went,  though  struggling  fearfully  to  regain  his  feet,  slipping  to  the 
bottom.  He  landed  at  last  erect,  with  his  face  up  the  ascent, 
and  though  now  on  the  level  ice  of  the  river,  the  poor  brute 
seemed  to  think  he  was  still  midway  on  the  declivity  he  had  been 
hurried  over  so  roughly ;  for  without  looking  at  all  behind  him, 
he  stood  trembling  for  an  instant,  and  then,  in  spite  of  all  the 
outcry  we  could  raise  to  keep  him  back,  commenced  ascending 
to  where  we  stood,  and  actually  persevered  till  he  had  gained  the 
place  from  whence  he  had  started.  The  only  way  now  to  effect 
our  purpose  was  for  one  to  go  below,  and  the  other  to  drive  the 
horses  down  to  him.  This  we  indeed  did,  and  I  do  not  know 
when  I  have  been  more  amused,  than  upon  seeing  my  worthy 
Rozinante,  as  if  taught  by  past  experience,  quietly — when  he 
found  he  must  go — placing  himself  upon  his  haunches,  and  slid- 
ing down  the  little  hill  with  a  degree  of  coolness  and  skill  that 
would  have  been  envied  by  the  boldest  schoolboy  on  Flatteti- 
harrack. 

Crossing  the  Vermilion,  we  were  compelled  to  drive  our  horses 
in  the  same  way  up  the  bank  on  the  opposite  side;  and  by  catch- 
ing hold  of  the  branches  of  trees,  drag  ourselves  after  them  as  we 
best  could.  Once  on  the  height,  nothing  but  a  level  plain  of  rich 
prairie  land  lay  between  us  and  the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois.  It  was 
crossed  here  and  there  at  intervals  of  a  few  miles  with  Indian 
trails,  about  a  foot  in  width,  and  worn  as  deep  as  if  they  had  been 
trod  for  centuries.  They  ran  in  various  directions,  and  were 
generally  as  straight  as  the  flight  of  an  arrow.  A  heavy  rain 
throughout  the  previous  night  had  swept  all  the  snow  from  the 
l)rairie,  and  these  black  lines  drawn  over  its  brown  surface  were 


A    WINTER    IN    THE   WEST 


39 


now  perceptible  at  a  great  distance.  A  long  reach  of  woodland 
immediately  before  us  indicated  our  approach  to  the  lilinnis 
bottoms ;  but  on  entering  the  timbered  ground,  wlicrc  the  snow 
^till  lingered  in  considerable  quantities,  we  found  ourselves  on 
the  slippery  blufifs,  a  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river 
opposite,  without  the  possibility  of  descending  to  its  bed.  These 
bluffs  were  divided  at  intervals  by  the  romantic  ravines  already 
described;  having  now  discovered  that  we  had  entirely  missed 
the  road  to  "The  Starved  Rock,'"  it  only  remained  for  us  to  at- 
tempt descending  through  these  passages,  and  find  the  place  by 
;i  route  of  our  own.  We  led  the  way  by  turns,  and  urging  our 
unwilling  horses  down  the  frozen  beds  of  the  little  streams  which 
impart  their  coolness  in  autumn  to  these  seiiuestered  dells,  we 
tried  three  ravines  in  succession,  without  attaining  our  object. 
One  would  bring  us  up  against  a  dead  wall  of  limestone,  in  the 
crevices  of  whose  base  the  rill  we  had  been  following  suddenly 
disappeared;  a  second  carried  us  to  the  abrupt  edge  of  a  preci- 
pice, about  lifty  feet  above  the  river,  whose  rich  bottoms,  extend- 
ing far  away  below,  reminded  me,  with  the  occasional  cojjscs  and 
detached  clumps  of  trees  which  studded  them,  of  points  of  views 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk.  Nothing,  on  so  small  a  scale, 
could  be  more  picturesque  than  the  nook  to  which  the  third 
ravine  led  us.  It  was  to  the  upper  edge  of  a  double  cascade, 
over  the  second  fall  of  which  an  arch  of  rock  projected,  so  as 
to  shut  out  from  view  the  basin  into  which  the  water  finally  fell 
below.  The  passage  through  whicli  we  reached  the  spot  was  a 
mere  lissure  in  the  side-hill;  and  when,  not  wishing  to  get  my 
feet  wet,  I  urged  my  horse  to  the  brink  of  the  little  cascade,  the 
long  icicles  pendent  from  the  hanging  rock  above  were  almost 
within  reach  of  my  riding-whip.  A  number  of  gnarled  and  sliinted 
cedars,  ^' moist  trees,  that  have  outlived  the  eagle,"  tling  their 
dusky  branches  over  the  chasm,  and  when  summer  foilage  glitters 
on  the  tall  stems  whose  naked  boughs  project  above  them,  the 
sun  must  be  wholly  excluded  from  this  cool  retreat. 

Our  horses  were  so  fagged  out  when  we  extricated  ourselves 
from  this  ravine,  that  we  did  not  think  it  well  to  try  another;  and 
my  companion  being  afraid  of  freezing  his  feet,  which  were  wet 
from  his  having  dismounted  at  the  most  difficult  parts  of  the  de- 
scent, I  was  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  give  up  the  search  and 
return  to  our  lodgings,  after  an  eight  hours'  ride,  without  haMng 
seen  the  interesting  point  we  had  taken  so  much  trouble  to  attain. 

*  An  unknown  correspondent  has  politely  furnished  tlj'^  ^^"''/-^  ^^^IV^Jj 
following  account  of  this  interesting  point,  as  g.vcn  in  "a  letter  from  a  Inena 
.-still  roaming  over  the  beautiful  prairies  of  Illinois. 


40  A   WINTER    IN    THE    WEST. 

The  mail-contractor,  resident  at  Chicago,  had  arrived  at  the 
farm-house  during  our  absence;  and  hearing  that  two  gentlemen 
were  detained  upon  the  road,  had,  with  great  politeness,  at  once 
taken  measures  to  send  us  on  the  next  morning.     The  room,  too, 

"  I  climbed  the  Indian  path  until  I  reached  the  summit  of  Starved  Rock. 
This  celebrated  rock  is  said  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  It  is  a  stu- 
pendous pile,  nearly  as  large  at  the  top  as  at  the  base,  and  is  accessible  at  one 
place  only;  in  every  other  direction  it  is  nearly  perpendicular,  and  more  than 
half  of  its  base  is  washed  by  the  Illinois,  which  is  here  from  three  to  four  feet 
deep. 

"The  summit  is  circular  and  almost  level,  containing  about  an  acre;  and 
now  has  on  it  a  thick  growth  of  young  timber.  There  is  still  lying  a  great 
quantity  of  the  bones  of  the  Indians  who  were  starved  to  death  by  a  hostile 
tribe.  I  picked  up  on  the  side  of  the  pass,  and  dug  out  of  the  earth,  several 
arrow-points.  At  one  place,  where  there  appears  a  possibility  of  scaling  the 
rock,  an  intrenchment  is  dug  and  breastwork  thrown  up.  After  passing  an 
hour  on  the  summit,  we  descended  to  our  boat  at  the  foot  of  the  rock,  and 
proceeded  on  our  journey. " 

"Starved  Rock." — This  remarkable  isolated  hill,  termed  by  the  French  Z'oy- 
ageurs  Le  Rocher,  or  Rockfort,  as  Mr.  Schoolcraft  calls  it,  is  described  by  that 
accurate  traveler  as  an  elevated  cliff  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Illinois,  consisting 
of  parallel  layers  of  white  sandstone.  It  is  not  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high,  perpendicular  on  three  sides,  and  washed  at  its  base  by  the 
river.  On  the  fourth  side  it  is  connected  with  the  adjacent  range  of  bluffs  by 
a  narrow  peninsular  ledge,  which  can  only  be  ascended  by  a  precipitous  wind- 
ing path.  The  summit  of  the  rock  is  level,  and  contains  about  three-fourths 
of  an  acre.  It  is  covered  with  a  soil  of  several  feet  in  depth,  bearing  a  growth 
of  young  trees.  Strong  and  almost  inaccessible  by  nature,  this  natural  battle- 
ment was  the  scene  of  a  desperate  conflict  between  the  fierce  and  haughty  Pot- 
tawatomies  and  one  band  of  the  Illinois  Indians;  the  latter  fled  to  this  place 
for  refuge  from  the  fury  of  their  enemies.  The  post  could  not  be  carried  by 
assault,  and  tradition  says  that  the  beseigers  finally  attempted,  after  many 
repulses,  to  reduce  it  by  starvation.  This  siege,  as  is  remarked  by  a  popular 
writer,  is  singularly  characteristic  on  either  side  of  those  remarkable  traits  of 
savage  character,  undaunted  resolution,  and  insatiable  and  ever  vigilant  thirst 
for  vengeance.  Its  result  is  well  told  in  "'Tales  of  the  Border,"  the  newly- 
published  work  of  Judge  Hall.  The  pangs  of  hunger,  the  tortures  of  thirst, 
pressed  upon  the  besieged;  but  they  maintained  their  post  with  invincible  cour- 
age, determined  rather  to  die  of  exhaustion  than  to  afford  their  enemies  the 
triumph  of  killing  them  in  battle  or  exposing  them  at  the  stake.  Every  strata- 
gem which  they  attempted  was  discovered  and  defeated.  The  scorching  sun 
that  beat  upon  their  towering  hold  maddened  them  to  taste  the  cool  stream 
that  glided  beneath  it;  but  when  they  endeavored  to  procure  water  during  the 
night  by  lowering  vessels  attached  to  cords  of  bark  into  the  river,  the  vigilant 
besiegers  detected  the  design,  and  placed  a  guard  in  canoes  to  prevent  its  exe- 
cution. They  all  perished — one,  and  one  only  excepted.  The  last  surviving 
warriors  defended  the  entrance  so  well  that  the  enemy  could  neither  enter  nor 
discover  the  fatal  progress  of  the  work  of  death;  and  when  at  last,  all  show 
of  resistance  having  ceased,  and  all  signs  of  life  disappeared,  the  victors  ven- 
tured cautiously  to  approach,  they  found  but  one  survivor — a  squaw,  whom 
they  adopted  into  their  own  tribe,  and  who  was  yet  living  when  the  first  white 
man  penetrated  this  region.  * 

*  Charlevoix,  Schoolcraft,  Hall. 


A   WINTER    IN   TIIK   WKST.  ^, 

in  which  we  had  slept  before— four  in  two  beds  ami  tlirce  on  the 
floor— had  now  been  vacated  by  five  of  its  occupants,  and  inv 
companion  and  I  each  appropriated  a  couch  to  himself.  Wc  were 
hardly  warm  under  the  cover,  however,  before  the  tramjiing  of 
horses,  with  the  sound  of  travelers'  voices,  was  heard  without ; 
and  the  good  dame  thrust  her  head  into  the  room,  in  the  vain 
expectation  of  showing  them  an  unoccupied  bed.  My  companion 
pretended  to  be  in  a  sound  sleep;  and  I  intimated  that  I  should 
betake  myself  to  my  buffalo-robe  and  the  floor,  in  case  a  bedfel- 
low were  thrust  in  upon  me :  whereat  the  kind  lady  was  exceed- 
ing miffed;  and  we  could  hear  her  through  the  board  i)artition,  a 
moment  afterward,  expressing  herself  after  this  amiable  lashion: — 
"Ugh:  great  people  truly!— a  bed  to  themselves,  the  hogs!  They 
travel  together  — and  they  eat  together— and  they  eat  enough,  too, 
— and  yet  they  can't  sleep  together!"  Here  the  husband,  a  re- 
spectable, middle-aged  man,  who  did  everything  to  make  our  sit- 
uation comfortable  during  the  thirty-six  hours  we  spent  at  hi.s 
cabin,  interposed,  and  silenced  his  better  half;  and,  the  newcomers 
wrapping  themselves  in  their  cloaks  before  the  fire,  in  a  few  min- 
utes all  became  still  about  the  establishment. 

The  good  dame,  who  must  have  been  a  fine-looking  woman  in 
her  day,  and  was,  I  believe,  in  spite  of  her  scolding  ways,  really 
well-disposed  toward  us  at  heart,  gave  us  a  capital  cup  of  coffee 
and  a  kind  farewell  in  the  morning.  A  four-horse  wagon,  with  an 
active  driver,  quickly  accomplished  a  mile  of  rough  road  through 
the  grove,  and  brought  us  once  more  to  the  edge  of  the  smooth 
prairie.  I  can  conceive  nothing  more  desolate  than  the  appear- 
ance of  that  boundless  plain.  The  fires  had  traversed  it  in  the 
autumn  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  the  snow  having  now 
disappeared  entirely  from  the  upland,  the  black  and  charred  sur- 
face was  all  that  met  our  vision  wherever  it  wandered:  a  dark 
sullen  sky  which  lowered  overhead  added  not  a  little  to  the  gloomi- 
ness of  the  prospect;  and  the  day  being  excessively  cold,  our  ride 
for  the  next  fifteen  miles  over  this  dreary  plain  was  anything  but 
agreeable.  At  last  we  came  to  some  broken  ground,  dotted  here 
and  there  with  a  handful  of  shrubbery,  from  which  every  moment 
a  pack  of  grouse,  and  occasionally  a  bevy  of  ([uail,  would  rise. 
The  little  village  of  Hennepin— called  after  Father  Hennepin 
next  hove  in  sight;  though  it  lay  so  sheltered  along  the  l)anks  ot 
the  Illinois  that  we  were  nearly  upon  the  hamlet  before  its  vu  iiiity 
was  discoverable. 

After  stopping  an  hour  or  two  to  dine  and  feed  our  horses,  we 
left  the  driver  to  take  a  circuitous  route  down  the  steep  bank. 
which,  though  not  rocky,  is  about  sixty  feet  high,  and  very  precipi- 


42  A   WINTER   IX    THE   WEST. 

tons  on  that  side  of  the  river;  while  my  friend  and  I  descended 
to  the  ice,  and  walked  over  the  river,  which  was  here  a  broad  and 
noble  stream,  with  some  beautiful  alluvial  islands  on  its  bosom. 
"  The  difference  of  temperature  here  and  on  the  bleak  prairie  above 
was  astonishing;  and  when  I  sat  down  upon  a  fallen  tree  among 
the  tangled  vines  of  the  rich  bottom  opposite  to  Hennepin,  and 
watched  a  flock  of  green  parroquets  fluttering  among  the  wych- 
elms  which  here  and  there  skirted  the  shore,  while  the  sun,  for  a 
moment  piercing  his  murky  veil,  touched  with  gold  the  icicles  that 
glazed  their  drooping  branches,  1  could  fancy  myself  transported 
to  a  different  climate.  The  driver  overtook  us  at  last,  and  then 
we  commenced  making  our  way  through  a  timbered  bottom,  which, 
for  appearance  of  rank  fertility,  excelled  any  spot  I  have  ever  be- 
held. The  trees  were  of  enormous  size,  and  seemed  chained  to- 
gether at  every  point  by  huge  vines,  which  clambered  to  their  very 
summits,  locking  the  stately  stems  in  their  ponderous  embrace, 
and  clasping  each  outer  bough  with  some  twining  tendril.  Hav- 
ing thus  secured  its  prey  on  one  tree,  the  vine  would  seem,  like  a 
living  animal,  to  have  bounded  to  another,  and  fastened  its  eager 
grasp  upon  some  limb  as  yet  untouclied.  Beneath  the  whole  an 
interminable  growth  of  underwood,  protected  by  the  woven  canopy 
above,  and  flourishing  rankly  in  its  living  fetters, 

"  Like  prisoners  wildly  overgrown  with  hair, 
Put  forth  disordered  twigs. " 

A  half-hour's  ride  carried  us  through  this  teeming  region  to  the 
foot  of  a  steep  and  open-wooded  hill,  which  ascending  with  some 
difficulty,  we  came  out  once  more  upon  the  prairie,  and  the  change 
of  temperature  instantaneous.  The  road  over  the  dry  grassy 
plain  was  very  good,  however,  for  the  first  six  or  eight  miles;  and 
as  the  evening  began  to  close  in  intensely  cold,  we  rattled  them 
off  in  a  very  short  time.  At  last  we  came  to  a  deep  frozen  gully, 
in  crossing  which  our  leaders  bruised  themselves  so  badly  by 
Ijreakmg  through  the  ice,  that  when  we  reached  a  spot  of  the 
same  kind,  but  rather  worse,  a  mile  or  two  in  advance,  the  fright- 
ened animals  recoiled  from  the  place,  and  refused  to  cross  it. 
Our  driver,  a  doughty  little  chap,  about  four  feet  eleven,  who 
rejoiced  in  the  name  of  Samson,  and  was  a  capital  whip  by-the- 
by,  after  using  every  exertion  to  get  his  whole  team  over,  was  at 
last  compelled  to  give  up  the  point,  and  proceed  to  detach  the 
leaders  from  the  wheel-horses.  This,  with  our  aid,  was  soon 
done;  and  my  companion  remaining  with  the  leaders  on  one  side, 
Samson  and  I  made  a  dash  at  the  frozen  brook,  and,  breaking 
through  in  the  midst,  the  horses  gave  such  a  spring  to  free  them- 


A    WINTER    TX    TIIK   WKST. 


43 


selves  from  the  wagon,  that  the  swingletree-bolt  snapped;  and 
had  not  the  heroic,  httle  champion  held  on  to  the  reins  as  tcna- 
( iously  as  did  his  namesake  to  the  gates  of  Cia/.a.  we  might  have 
!)een  left  a  prey  to  the  next  drove  of  Philistinean  wulves  tluit 
should  rove  the  prairie  in  quest  of  a  supper. 

Samson,  however,  was  true  to  his  name;  and  with  a  mighty  arm 
bringing  up  his  foaming  steeds  all  standing,  we  crawled  over  the 
head  of  the  rampant  wagon,  (the  hind-wheels  only  had  gone 
through  the  ice),  and  sprang  to  the  firm  ground.  The  swingletrcc 
was  soon  tinkered  fast  again;  but  now  came  the  difiicully  of  get- 
ting the  unwilling  leaders  over,  who,  it  is  presumed,  had  been  n(» 
uninterested  spectators  of  what  had  just  been  going  forward :  coax- 
ing and  whipping  availed  nothing;  and  we  at  last  succeeded  only 
])V  buckling  two  pair  of  reins  together  and  passing  them  over  the 
brook,  two  of  us  pulling  on  the  horses'  mouths,  while  the  third 
applied  a  smart  castigation  behind.  One  of  the  poor  animals 
again  broke  in,  and  floundered  dreadfully  before  he  reached  a  tirni 
footing  on  the  other  side.  But  this  was  not  the  worst ;  our  poor 
little  Samson,  in  attempting  to  jump,  floundered  in  up  to  his  knees, 
and  suffered  much  inconvenience  from  it  afterward.  The  evening 
was  indeed  so  cold,  that  our  wheel-horses,  who  were  coated  with 
ice,  their  long  tails  being  actually  frozen  solid,  were  in  danger  of 
freezing  to  death,  had  we  been  compelled  to  delay  much  longer. 
JJut,  placing  now  the  leaders  on  the  firm  ground  beyond  them, 
one  smart  pull  served  to  extricate  the  wagon  from  the  hole  and 
deliver  us  from  our  quandary. 

We  had  five  or.  six  miles  still  to  go  before  reaching  a  house; 
and  feeling  some  anxiety  about  Samson's  wet  feet,^  we  urged  hini 
to  put  the  horses— nothing  loath  when  once  started— to  the  top 
of  their  speed.  He  did  indeed  drive  furiously;  but  when  we 
arrived  at  the  house  whence  I  write,  the  poor  fellow's  feet  were 
frozen.  Rushing  at  once  to  the  fire,  he  would  undoubtedly  have 
lost  them,  had  there  not  chanced  to  be  a  physician  present,  who 
directed  us  what  to  do.  The  good-humored  little  patient  was 
removed  without  delay  to  the  back  part  of  the  room ;  and  wc 
commenced  pouring  water  into  his  boots  until  they  melted  Irom 
his  feet,  the  temperature  of  the  water  being  gradually  heightened 
until  it  became  blood-warm,  while  a  bucket  ot  ice-water  stood  Dy 
for  the  suff-erer  to  thrust  his  feet  in,  whenever  the  returning  circu- 
lation became  too  violent  for  him  to  endure.  In  the  morning. 
though  his  feet  were  dreadfully  swollen,  he  was  enabled,  by  ly  ng 
them  up  in  thick  horse-blankets,  to  move  about,  and  even  return 
with  his  team.  To  the  simple  and  judicious  suggestions  of  he 
traveling  physician  present,  our  little  hero  was,  in  all  pr..bal..i.t>. 


44  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

indebted  for  escaping  a  most  awful  calamity;  a  settler  in  this 
neighborhood  having  lost  both  legs  a  few  days  since  by  an  expos- 
ure similar  to  Samson's. 

I  am  now  staying  at  the  house  of  a  flourishing  farmer,  whose 
sturdy  frame,  bold  features,  and  thick  long  black  hair,  would,  with 
his  frank  address,  afford  as  fine  a  specimen  of  the  western  bor- 
derer as  one  could  meet  wath,  and  never  allow  you  to  suspect  that 
ten  or  fifteen  years  ago  he  was  a  New- York  tradesman.  He  lives, 
like  all  other  people  of  this  country,  in  a  log-cabin,  which  has 
many  comforts  about  it,  however,  not  usually  found  in  these  primi- 
tive domicils.  Having  a  large  family,  with  no  neighbors  nearer 
than  ten  miles  on  one  side  and  twenty  on  the  other,  he  maintains 
a  schoolmaster  to  instruct  his  children :  the  room  I  occupy  at 
night  being  fitted  up  with  desks  and  benches  as  a  school-room. 
His  farm,  which  lies  along  the  edge  of  a  beautiful  and  well-watered 
grove,  supplies  him  with  almost  everything  he  wants;  and  having 
once  pursued  a  different  mode  of  life,  he  seems  now  to  realize  the 
full  independence  of  his  situation,  more  even  than  those  who  have 
always  been  brought  up  as  farmers.  I  told  him  this  morning,  as 
he  sallied  out  to  cut  wood,  with  his  two  sons,  axe  in  hand,  all  clad 
in  their  belted  capotes  and  white  woollen  hoods,  that  I  should 
like  to  meet  his  sun-burnt  features  and  independent  step  in  Broad- 
way, to  see  how  many  of  his  old  acquaintances  would  recognize 
the  pale  mechanic  in  the  brown  backwoodsman.  He  promised 
me,  if  he  came  in  winter,  to  appear  with  the  guise  in  which  I  then 
beheld  him;  adding,  in  western  phraseology,  "The  way  in  which 
folks '11  stare,  squire,  will  be  a  caution^ 

After  being  detained  here  some  days  waiting  for  the  St.  Louis 
mail-wagon,  and  losing  my  traveling-companion,  who,  having 
bought  a  horse,  has  gone  on  by  himself,  I  have  concluded  that  it 
would  never  do  to  go  out  of  this  country  without  visiting  Galena 
and  the  mining  country;  and,  as  there  is  now  a  public  conveyance 
thither,  I  shall  take  the  first  opportunity  to  go  with  it.  I  have 
amused  myself  for  the  last  three  nights  in  watching  for  wolves  by 
moonlight,  at  the  edge  of  the  wood,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the 
house.  They  come  howling  round  the  house  after  nightfall,  and 
if  one  is  "in  luck"  at  all,  are  easily  shot.  But  last  night,  after 
leaving  my  position  but  for  five  minutes,  I  heard  the  report  of  a 
rifle;  and  hastening  to  the  spot,  where  a  lad  stayed  to  fill  my 
place  for  a  moment,  I  found  that  a  gray  and  a  black  wolf,  of  the 
largest  kind,  had  approached  suddenly  within  two  or  three  yards 
of  the  muzzle  of  his  gun,  and  startled  him  so  that  he  missed  them 
both.  In  the  confident  hope  of  their  return — for  the  bait  that  we 
had  thrown  about  the  place  was  still  there — I  took  the  little  fel- 


A  WINTER  IX    riir:  \vi;sr.  ^- 

low's  place,  and  wrapping  myself  in  a  buffalo-skin,  lav  watchinK 
on  the  ground  till  nearly  daybreak;  and  the  enemy  then  not  mak 
ing  his  appearance,  I  was  glad  to  creep  shivering  to  bed. 

Upon  entering  my  room,  which  contained  two  beds,  I  observed, 
after  striking  a  light,  that  the  one  opposite  to  mine  was  occu|jieil 
by  some  newcomers;  while  a  sheet  suspended  from  the  ccihng 
near  the  pillow,  and  concealing  the  phrenology  of  its  occupants 
from  view,  was  evidendy  meant  as  a  caveat  against  reconnoitring 
that  part  of  the  apartment.  I  had  some  piquant  reflections  when 
a  respectable-looking  traveler  and  a  pretty  young  woman,  wliu  I 
Avas  told  was  a  bride  on  her  way  to  St.  Louis,  breakfasted  with  u>. 
the  next  morning. 

You  shall  hear  from  me  next  at  Galena.      Till  then,  farewell ' 

Galena,  Uppkr  Mississippi,  Feb.  /. 
A  FURIOUS  squall  of  snow,  which  would  have  rendered  it  iid 
possible  to  keep  a  given  road  in  crossing  the  prairie,  subsided 
before  nightfall,  on  the  day  that  I  left  Boyd's  (irove,  bound  for 
the  Upper  Mississippi ;  and  as  the  calm  clear  sky  of  evening  suc- 
ceeded, our  sleigh  glided  over  the  open  plain  at  a  rate  which  soon 
made  the  cabins  behind  us  disappear  in  the  distance;  while  four 
fleet  horses,  with  a  good  driver,  and  but  one  passenger,  swiftly  ac- 
complished the  short  stage  of  twelve  miles,  and  brought  us  to  the 
room  where  we  were  to  pass  the  night.  The  intervening  prairie, 
for  the  first  six  miles,  was  high  and  level,  with  not  a  stick  of  tim- 
ber,— one  broad  snow-covered  plain,  where  you  could  see  the 
dark  figure  of  a  wolf  for  miles  off,  as  it  stood  in  relief  against  the 
white  unbroken  surface.  A  prospect  more  bleak  and  lonelv.  when 
night  is  closing  in,  and  you  press  toward  some  distant  grove. 
whose  treetops  can  not  yet  be  discovered  above  the  monotonou.s 
plains,  is  inconceivable.  Presently,  however,  you  come  to  a 
break  in  the  prairie;  a  slight  descent  next  shelters  you  somewhat 
from  the  wind,  and  now  you  can  discover  a  wood,  which  hitherto 
had  appeared  man}'  miles  off,  or  perhaps  was  not  percei)tible  at 
all,  that  has  pushed  a  scattered  clump  of  trees  here  and  there,  like 
an  advanced  guard  under  cover  df  the  ravine.  Vou  come  to  tlie 
brink  of  another  platform,  and  you  are  on  the  edge  of  a  grove; 
while  for  twenty  miles  ahead  the  eye  ranges  over  what  looks  hke 
a  shallow  basin  of  immense  extent,  broken  occasionally  by  dusky- 
masses,  which  seem  rather  to  repose  upon  than  to  spring  out  of 
its  surface;  such*was  the  view  in  advance,  from  a  point  al)OUt  si\ 
miles  from  Boyd's  Grove.  The  elevation  from  which  we  de 
scended  was  not  more  than  twenty  feet,  and  it  commanded  a 
prospect  of  as  many  miles.     It  was  like  looking  irom  the  edge  ot 


46  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

a  snow-covered  desert  upon  a  frozen  lake,  with  its  isles,  head- 
lands, and  scattered  rocks,  and  its  waters  riveted  as  fast  as  they. 
The  rosy  rays  of  the  setting  sun  still  lingered  over  the  scene,  as 
on  one  they  longed  to  set  free  from  the  icy  chains  which  bound 
it;  while  the  calm  pale  moon  grew  momentarily  more  bright,  as 
if  her  cold  beams  borrowed  lustre  from  the  extent  of  pure  white 
surface  over  which  they  shone. 

A  single  room,  miserably  built  of  logs,^ — the  interstices  of  which 
were,  so  unskilfully  filled  up  with  mud  that  I  could  hear  the  night- 
wind  whistling  through  them  as  we  drove  up  to  the  door, — was  to 
be  our  lodging  for  the  night.  A  couple  of  rifles,  with  a  powder- 
horn  and  a  pair  of  Indian  blankets,  lay  without,  and  two  painted 
Pottawatomies  were  crouched  on  the  hearth,  as  I  entered  the 
cabin.  One  of  them,  a  slight  but  elegantly -formed  youth  of 
twehty,  sprang  at  once  to  his  feet;  while  the  other,  a  dark  ill- 
looking  negro-faced  fellow,  retained  his  scjuatting  posture.  They 
were  dressed  in  complete  suits  of  buckskin;  both  having  their 
ears  bored  in  several  places,  with  long  drops  of  silver  pendent  in 
thick  bunches  therefrom;  while  broad  plates  suspended  over  their 
chests,  with  armlets  of  the  same  metal,  made  quite  a  rich  display. 
Their  dress'''  was,  however,  the  only  point  in  which  they  resem- 

*  "The  usual  dress  of  the  men  (among  the  northern  tribes)  at  the  present 
day  consists  of  a  figured  cotton  shirt;  a  blanket,  or  French  capote  of  blue 
cloth;  a  pair  of  blue,  green,  or  red  cloth  metasses  or  leggins;  an  azeeaun  or 
breech  cloth,  and  moccasins  of  dressed  deer-skin.  The  metasses  are  generally 
ornamented,  and  a  garter  of  colored  worsted  tied  around  the  knee.  The  front 
fold  of  the  azeeaun  is  also  ornamented  around  the  edges.  A  necklace  of  wam- 
pum, or  a  silver  crescent,  or  both,  are  often  worn  together  with  silver  arm- 
bands and  wrist-bands.  The  latter  are  not  exclusively  confined  to  chiefs,  so 
far  as  we  have  observed,  but  their  use  depends  rather  upon  the  ability  of  the 
individual  to  purchase  them.  Ear-rings  are  common  to  both  sexes.  A  knife 
is  commonly  worn  in  a  scabbard  confined  under  the  string  or  narrow  belt 
which  sustains  both  the  azeeaun  and  the  metasses.  The  head  is  ornamented 
with  a  band  of  skin,  dressed  with  the  hair  or  pelt  on,  surmounted  with  feathers. 
In  this  respect  there  seems  to  be  less  uniformity  than  in  any  other  part  of  their 
costume.  Often  the  headpiece  is  wanting.  Long  hair  is  prevalent :  it  is  some- 
times braided  and  ornamented  with  silver  brooches.  Paints  are  still  used  for 
the  face,  both  for  the  purposes  of  dress  and  mourning.  Each  Indian  youth, 
from  the  time  he  is  acknowledged  as  a  hunter  capable  of  supporting  himself, 
ordinarily  carries  a  pipe,  and  a  skipetagun,  or  tobacco-pouch.  This  pouch  is 
commonly  the  entire  skin  of  an  otter,  lynx,  or  other  small  animal,  dressed  with 
the  pelt  on;  and  drawing  an  aperture  upon  the  throat,  this  sack,  besides  the 
usual  quantity  of  tobacco  and  smoking-weed  (kinnekinic),  commonly  contains 
a  fire-steel,  flint,  and  bit  of  spunk,  and  sometimes  a  knife.  But  this  append- 
age is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  sacred  metawiiaun,  or  medicine-sack, 
which  is  the  consecrated  repository,  not  only  of  his  medicines,  but  also  of  his 
personal  manitos  and  relics." — Sckoohraft's  Tnuuls  in  the  Central  Portions  oj 
the  Mississippi  Valley. 


A   WINTER    IX     II  ll.;    \Vi:s|-.  ^7 

bled  each  other;  and  the  acquiUne  nose,  keen  eyes,  and  l)caiiii- 
fuUy-arched  brows  of  the  one  contrasted  as  strongly  wiili  the 
heavy  inexpressive  look  and  thick  lips  of  tiic  other,  as  did  the 
closely-fitting  hunting-frock  of  the  first,  which  a  bla(  k  belt,  sown 
thick  with  studs  of  brass,  secured  to  his  erect  form,  with  the  loose 
shirt  that  crumpled  around  the  crouching  person  of  the  otlier. 
A  hard-featured  borderer,  with  long  sandy  hair  (lowing  from 
under  a  cap  of  wolf-skin,  and  dressed  in  a  bright-green  capote 
with  an  orange-colored  sash,  sat  smoking  a  j)ii)e  on  the  other  side 
of  the  fireplace;  while  one  foot  dangled  from  the  bed  on  which 
he  had  placed  himself,  and  another  rested  on  a  Spanish  saddle, 
whose  holsters  were  brought  so  near  to  the  fire,  as  it  lay  thus 
carelessly  thrown  in  a  corner,  that  the  brazen  butts  of  a  jtair  of 
heavy  pistols  were  continually  exposed  to  view  by  the  tlickering 
light.  A  pale,  sickly-looking  woman,  with  an  infant  in  her  arms, 
and  two  small  children  clinging  around  her  lap,  sat  in  the  centre, 
and  completed  the  group.  Her  husband  and  another,  a  hanger- 
on  of  the  establishment,  had  stepped  out  to  look  afier  our  horses, 
as  we  drove  up  to  the  door.  The  apartment,  which  was  not  more 
than  twenty  feet  square,  was  cumbered  up  with  four  beds:  and 
when  I  thought  how  many  there  were  to  occupy  them,  anti  ob- 
served a  thin,  cotton  curtain  flapping  against  a  wide  ungla/ed 
opening,  which  formed  the  only  window  of  this  forlorn  chamber, 
1  thought  that  the  prospect  of  comfortable  accommodation  for 
the  night  was  any  thing  but  promising.  Presently,  however,  the 
landlord  entered,  with  an  armful  of  burr-oak  and  split  hickory, 
which  crackled  and  sputtered  at  a  rate  that  made  the  Indians 
withdraw  from  the  ashes.  The  goodwoman  placed  her  child  in  a 
rude  cradle,  and  bestirred  herself  with  activity  and  good-hnnior 
in  getting  supper;  while  the  frontiers -man.  knocking  the  a-slio 
from  his  tomahawk-pipe,  passed  me  a  flask  of  Ohio  whisky,  which, 
after  my  cold  ride,  had  all  the  virtue  of  Monongahela.  Some 
coarse  fried  pork,  with  a  bowl  of  stewed  hominy,  hot  rolls,  and 
wild  honey,  did  not  come  amis^;,  especially  when  backed  by  a  cup 
of  capital  coffee  from  the  lower  country;  though  the  right  good- 
will with  which  we  all  bent  to  this  important  business  of  eatmg 
did  not  prevent  me  from  noticing  the  Frcnrluiian-Iike  iiarlicii- 
larity  with  which  the  Indians  ate  from  but  one  dish  at  a  time, 
though  tasting  every  thing  upon  the  tal)le. 

The  best-looking  of  the  two,  though  daubed  with  paint  to  a 
degree  that  made  him  look  perfectiv  savage,  was  almost  the  only 
Indian  I  had  yet  found  who  couk'l  talk  Knglish  at  all:  ami  he 
seemed  both  amused  and  interested  while  I  read  over  to  hnn  a 


48  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

slight  vocabulary  of  words  in  his  own  language,  as  I  had  taken 
down  the  terms  occasionally  in  my  pocket-book,  and  was  evi- 
dently gratified  when  I  added  to  their  number  from  his  lips.  He 
spoke  the  language,  indeed,  with  a  clearness  and  distinctness  of 
enunciation  such  as  I  have  only  heard  before  from  a  female 
tongue  ;  and  the  words  thus  pronounced  had  a  delicacy  and 
music  in  their  sound  entirely  wanting  in  the  usual  slovenly  utter- 
ance of  Indians.  You  would  have  been  struck,  too,  in  the  midst 
of  our  philological  task,  to  see  the  grim-looking  savage  bend  over 
and  rock  the  cradle,  as  the  shivering  infant  would  commence  cry- 
ing behind  us.  In  this  way,  the  evening  passed  rapidly  enough; 
and  then  the  good  dame,  with  her  husband  and  children  taking 
one  bed,  the  green  rider  and  I  took  each  another,  while  the  stage- 
driver  and  remaining  white  man  shared  the  fourth  together.  The 
Indians  brought  in  their  guns  and  blankets  from  without,  and, 
making  a  mattress  of  my  buffalo-skin,  they  placed  their  feet  to  the 
fire,  and,  after  a  chirping  conversation  of  a  few  minutes  beneath 
their  woollen  toggery,  sunk  to  slumber. 

The  moon  was  still  shining  brightly  above,  as  I  sallied  out  an 
hour  before  dawn  to  wash  in  the  snow,  and  finish  in  the  open  air 
the  toilet  commenced  in  the  crowded  shanty.  Our  sleigh,  a  low, 
clumsy  pine  box  on  a  pair  of  ox-runners,  was  soon  after  at  the 
door;  and  covering  up  my  extremities  as  well  as  I  could  in  the 
wild  hay  which  filled  the  bottom  (for  the  morning  was  intensely 
cold),  I  wound  my  fur  robe  around  my  head  to  keep  my  face  from 
freezing,  and  soon  found  myself  gliding  at  a  prodigious  rate  over 
the  smooth  prairie.  The  sun  was  several  hours  high  when  we 
struck  a  fine  grove  of  timber,  through  which  the  small  but  rapid 
River  Huron  takes  its  way;  and  thrashing  through  the  wintry 
stream,  we  merely  paused  long  enough  at  a  shanty  on  the  oppo- 
site side  to  adjust  some  of  our  harness  which  was  broken  while 
fording  the  torrent,  and  reached  a  comfortable  log-cabin,  in  which 
we  breakfasted  at  noon.  There  was  an  Indian  encampment  with- 
in gun-shot  of  the  house;  and  seeing  a  melancholy-looking  squaw 
with  an  infant  in  her  arms  hanging  about  the  farm-house,  I  left  my 
landlady  turning  some  venison  cutlets  and  grilled  grouse,  to  see 
how  the  aborigines  fared  in  this  cold  weather.  A  pretty  Indian 
girl  of  fourteen,  driving  a  couple  of  half-starved  ponies,  indicated 
the  camp  of  her  friends.  They  proved  to  be  a  very  inferior  band, 
having  but  two  hunters,  and  those  inefiicient-looking  fellows,  to  a 
score  of  women  and  children.  Sheer  necessity  had  compelled 
them  to  encamp  near  the  settlement;  and  a  more  squalid,  misera- 
ble-looking set  of  creatures  I  never  beheld.     The  chief  of  the 


A    WINTER    IN    Tin:    WIST.  .o 

party,  contrary  to  the  usual  Indian  custom,  had  U-l  hi.>>  heard* 
■grow  till  it  stood  out  in  small  tufts  from  every  part  of  his  sinister- 
looking,  smoke-dried  face;  and  the  thong  of  leather  which  sus- 
tained his  scalping-knife  seemed  to  answer  the  duul)k-  purpose  of 
binding  the  fragments  of  his  greasy  and  tattered  capote  to  his 
"body,  and  of  keeping  the  loosely-hung  comijonent  parts  of  the 
body  itself  together.  A  bluff-faced,  Kngiish-looking  white  youth 
of  eighteen,  with  a  shock  head  of  reddish  curly  hair,  and  wearing 
a  hunting-frock  of  some  coarse  material,  striped  like  a  bed-ticking, 
secured  to  his  body  with  a  red  belt,  from  which  a  hatchet  was  sus- 
pended, was  assisting  him  in  "spancelling"  a  refractory  pony. 
The  young  gentleman,  as  I  afterward  learned,  belonged  to  the  tribe 
— some  runaway  apprentice,  perhaps,  who  thought  he  was  plaving 
Rolla.  The  rest  of  the  mongrel  concern  dodged  like  l)ea\ers 
beneath  the  mats  of  their  smoky  wigwams,  as  I  approaclied  their 
•common  fire  to  warm  myself 

Returning  to  the  farm-house,  I  found  a  little  girl  jilaying  on  the 
floor  with  several  strings  of  beads,  which  the  s(|uaw  first  uieinioiied 
had  just  parted  with  to  purchase  food  for  her  starving  infant. 
The  family,  however,  though  they  suffered  the  child  to  retain  the 
ornaments,  supplied  the  poor  woman  with  food  and  comforts  to 
ten  times  their  value.  The  Indian  mother,  I  was  told,  though 
nearly  fainting  from  exhaustion,  asked  for  nothing  e.vcept  for  her 
child ;  and  seemed  deeply  affected  w  hen,  after  by  signs  ap|)rizing 
the  whites  of  her  situation,  she  obtained  the  required  sustenance. 

Upon  emerging  from  this  grove  and  getting  out  once  more  on 
the  prairie,  I  could  distinguish  a  solitar\-  horseman,  followed  by 
his  dog,  coming  toward  us,  at  least  a  mile  oft":  and  remarking, 
that  as  they  approached  us  the  distance  between  the  man  and  his 
canine  companion  increased  at  a  very  unusual  rate,  I  was  induced 
to  scan  the  appearance  of  the  latter  as  he  passed  within  rirte-shot 
of  our  sleigh  after  his  master  was  out  of  hail.     It  proved  to  be 

*  Robertson,  Charlevoix,  and  other  European  writers,  meiilion  thai  (he 
American  Indians  have  naturally  no  beards.  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  oi»ervmg 
that  a  beard  is  less  common  to  our  aborigines  than  to  the  native^  of  l-iurojie  or 
Asia,  ascribes  its  absence  chiefly  to  the  fashion  of  pliicking  it  out  in  early  hfc. 
"  It  is  esteemed  necessary  to  the  decency  of  appearar.cc  among  the  young  ami 
middle-aged  to  remove  the  beard;  and,  as  the  ra/.or  is  unknown  to  thcMn,  they 
employ  the  only  means  at  command  to  eradicate  it.  Hence  it  l^  mure  cum- 
mon  to  see  beards  upon  old  men,  who  become  careless  and  neglectful  of  |H;r. 
sonal  appearance.  Of  the  Indians  of  the  Algon(iuin  stock,  the  Unppewa-s 
are  perhaps  the  most  exempted  from  beards,  the  Oltawas  less  so,  and  the  I  oe- 
tavvatomies  still  less.  Among  the  two  last  tribes  there  is  a  custom  sufhc.cntly 
frequent,  though  not  universal,  of  letting  the  beard  grow  on  y  upon  the  under 
lip,  or  upon  the  chin,  from  which  it  depends  in  a  compact  lock,  or  a  kmd  ol 
bunch." — Travels  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 


50  A    WINTER    IX    THE   WEST. 

an  enormous  wolf;  and  we  actually  tracked  the  fellow  for  eighteen! 
miles,  to  a  thick  brake  on  the  banks  of  a  frozen  stream,  froni 
which  he  had  first  leaped  into  the  traveler's  tracks,  and  steadily 
followed  on  in  his  horses  steps  to  the  point  where  he  passed  us. 
The  cowardly  rascal,  being  hard  pushed  with  hunger,  though  he- 
could  have  no  idea  of  attacking  the  traveler  by  himself,  had  prob- 
ably just  trudged  along  mile  after  mile  in  hope  of  raising  2. posse 
lomitatus  of  his  long-haired  brethren  along  the  road,  or  of  availing 
himself  after  nightfall  of  some  accident  that  might  overtake  the 
horseman,  who  was  so  unconscious  of  his  volunteer  escort.  Had 
the  man  but  turned  his  horse  and  run  the  wolf  a  hundred  vards, 
he  would  have  rid  himself  of  a  companion  that  circumstances 
might  possibly  have  rendered  inconvenient. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  reached  the  lianks  of  Rock 
River,  whose  broad  and  limpid  current  was,  of  course,  congealed 
by  the  rigors  of  winter.  The  enterprising  and  intelligent  settler 
from  the  city  of  New  York,  who,  though  repeatedly  driven  off  by 
the  Indians,  has  been  for  fifteen  years  established  at  "Dixon's- 
Ferry,''  detained  me  some  time  at  dinner  in  expatiating  upon  tlie 
healthfulness  of  the  adjacent  country,  and  the  abundance  of  fish 
and  game  of  all  kinds  which  frequent  the  waters  of  the  fine  stream, 
upon  which  he  resides.  The  river,  which  is  navigable  for  boat.s- 
of  fifty  tons  nearly  a  hundred  miles  above  the  Mississippi,  flows 
through  a  gentle  valley,  with  the  prairie  sloping  to  its  edge  upon 
either  side,  excei)t  when  a  group  of  bold  rocks,  forming  a  cave, 
whose  entrance  has  a  perfect  Ciothic  arch  of  some  twenty  feet 
high,  rear  their  sudden  pinnacles  above  the  farther  bank.  The ' 
smoothness  of  the  adjacent  ground  is  broken  here  and  there  b)^ 
an  open  grove:  while  an  occasional  thicket,  ^\ith  one  or  two  rank- 
ly  overgrown  alluvial  islands  in  the  river,  must  constitute  a  beau- 
tiful landscape  in  summer.  This  spot  was  Gen.  Atkinson's  head- 
quarters during  the  Black-Hawk  war,  and  may  be  considered 
about  the  centre  of  operations  during  the  recent  Indian  difficul- 
ties. A  sharp  ride  of  twelve  miles  over  the  open  prairie  brought 
us  after  dark  to  Buffalo  Grove,  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most 
melancholy  incidents  that  attended  those  commotions. 

A  party  of  four  or  five  mounted  travelers,  bound  from  Galena  for 
the  lower  country,  were  obliged  to  pass  the  grove  on  their  route 
just  after  the  difficulties  with  the  Indians  commenced.  They  had 
reached  the  edge  of  the  grove,  when  one  of  the  number,  conceiv- 
ing that  it  might  harbor  an  ambush,  suggested  the  expediency  of 
deviating  from  the  usual  path,  and  taking  a  somewhat  circuitous 
course.  He  was  opposed,  however,  by  his  companions  ;  and  one 
of  them,  taunting  him   with  an  unnecessary  regard  to  prudence,, 


A    WINTER    I\    TIIK    \VI-;ST.  ;, 

si)iirred  his  horse,  and  advanced  first  into  the  latal  wnod.  His 
horse  could  have  made  but  a  few  l)ounds--l  have  seen  his  ^ravf, 
just  within  the  edge  of  the  grove- when  an  ImUan  hullel  hr.  ' 
him  to  the  ground:  and  his  companions,  wiiecHiig  on  ihcir  ti...  ^. 
for  the  present  escaped  farther  mischief  On  arriving  at  Dixon's 
Ferry,  it  was  proposed  the  next  day  to  return  and  bury  the  poor 
fellow,  who  had  thus  fallen  a  victim  to  his  own  rashness.  Kiglit 
persons,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Savary,  the  Indian  agent  fortlic 
hostile  tribes,  volunteered  upon  the  kind  office,  which  was  per- 
formed without  molestation;  and  the  agent,  with  the  greater  pari 
of  those  present,  then  kept  on  his  way  to  the  upper  country;  the 
rest,  among  whom  was  my  informant,  returning  to  their  hoine  on 
Rock  River.  A  confused  account  is  given  of  what  followed;  as 
four  of  Mr.  Savary's  party,  including  himself,  were  slain  in  another 
ambush;  and  those  who  escaped  b}-  the  speed  of  their  horses  had 
but  little  opportunity,  after  the  first  surprise,  to  observe  how  their 
companions  met  their  fate.  It  is  agreed.  hnwe\er,  that  the  un- 
fortunate agent,  turning  in  his  saddle  after  the  first  fire,  was  shot 
in  the  act  of  appealing  to  the  Indians  as  their  friend  and  "father," 
— the  reply  being  a  disclaimer  of  his  official  character,  and  the 
words,  "We  have  no  longer  any  white  father,"  accompan\ing  the 
discharge  of  the  piece  whose  bullet  pierced  his  brain.  The  head 
of  the  ill-fated  gentleman,  carried  oflf  by  the  Indians,  is  said  to 
have  been  afterward  recognized  and  recovered  from  the  savage 
band.  The  Indians  fired  the  house  of  the  settler  (an  old  New- 
Yorker)  at  Buftalo  Grove;  and  the  half-burnt  timbers  and  lonely 
doorposts  contrasted  strangly,  as  I  viewed  them,  in  jmssing,  by 
the  morning  sun,  with  the  neat  new  log  dwelling  a  few  j)aces  off. 
in  which  I  had  most  comfortabl}'  spent  the  night  before. 

But  these  traces  of  savage  war  soon,  by  their  frequency,  become 
familiar. 

The  aspect  of  the  country  changes  considerably  soon  after  pass- 
ing Rock  River.  The  prairie  is  frequently  broken  by  sudden 
ravines;  the  number  of  groves  increases;  the  streams  run  more 
rapidly  over  their  i)ebbly  beds ;  and  huge  masses  of  crunil)ling 
rock  rise  like  the  ruined  walls  of  old  castles  along  the  mimic  vales 
through  which  they  take  their  way.  In  tliese  secluded  dells,  a 
number  of  settlers  had  ventured  to  fix  themselves  along  the  (lalena 
route;  and  though  manv  have  now  returned  to  their  precarious 
homes,  the  humble  dwellings  and  various  little  im|)rovenients  of 
others  remain  as  thev  left  them  when  fleeing  with  their  families 
before  the  dreaded  savage.  With  the  api)earance  of  one  ol  these 
cottages  I  was  struck  particularlv.  The  roots  of  a  large  tree. 
whose  branches  brushed  a  wall  of  rock  opposite  to  it,  had  caused 


52  A    WINTER    IN    THE    WEST. 

a  sparkling  brook  to  describe  the  form  of  a  horse-shoe  in  winding 
through  a  small  alluvial  bottom,  while  a  row  of  wild  plum-trees 
across  the  little  peninsula  thus  formed  divided  it  from  the  rest  of 
the  valley,  and  just  left  room  enough  for  the  cabin  of  the  settler, 
with  a  few  acres  for  a  garden  around  his  door.  A  few  acres  more 
along  the  margin  of  the  brook  supplies  another  enclosure;  and 
the  fences  and  fixtures  exhibited  a  degree  of  care  and  arrangement 
by  no  means  common  in  this  region.  But  the  exiled  owner  had 
never  returned  to  his  tasteful  though  humble  home.  The  open 
door  swung  loose  upon  a  single  hinge ;  the  snow  lay  far  within 
the  threshold  ;  and  a  solitary  raven,  perched  upon  the  roof,  seemed 
to  consider  the  abode  of  desolation  so  much  his  own,  that,  heed- 
less of  a  flock  of  his  brothers  which  rose  from  some  carrion  near 
as  we  approached  the  place,  he  only  moved  sideways  along  the 
rafter,  and  gave  a  solitary  croak  as  we  drove  liy. 

Approaching  (lalena,  the  country  becomes  still  more  broken 
and  rocky,  until  at  last  a  few  short  hills,  here  called  "knobs,"  in- 
dicated our  approach  to  Fever  River:  the  river  itself  at  once 
became  visible  when  we  had  wound  round  the  last  of  these,  and 
got  among  the  broken  ravines  that  seam  the  declivity,  sloping 
down  for  nearly  a  mile  to  its  margin.  Short  sudden  hills,  the 
bluffs  of  the  prairie  beyond,  partly  wooded  and  partly  faced  with 
rock,  formed  the  opposite  shore;  while  the  town  of  Galena  lay 
scattered  along  their  broken  outline,  as  if  some  giant  had  pitched 
a  handful  of  houses  against  the  hill-side,  and  the  slimy  mud  (for 
which  the  streets  of  Galena  are  celebrated)  had  caused  them  to 
stick  there.  We  crossed  on  the  ice,  and  I  am  now  once  more  in 
a  frame-house. 

Prairie  du  Chikx,  Uppkr  Mississippi,  Feb.  jt/i. 
I  HAD  only  been  in  Galena  a  few  hours,  when  I  learned  that  a 
mail-carrier  was  to  start  in  the  morning  for  Fort  Crawford  on  the 
Upper  Mississippi,  and  determined  at  once  to  accompany  him; 
deferring  an  examination  of  the  country  around  Galena  till  my 
return.  It  was  about  eleven  o'clock  of  a  fine,  clear,  cold  day, 
whsn  my  conipagnon  dc  voyagr,  a  bluff-faced,  curly-pated  fellow,  in 
a  green  blanket  coat,  drove  up  to  the  door  in  a  better  sleigh  than 
1  had  seen  on  any  of  the  post-routes  below ;  and  wrapping  my- 
self up  in  a  couple  of  bufiflilo-robes  and  sundry  blankets,  I  found 
myself,  after  ascending  the  rugged  bluffs  of  Fever  River,  armed  at 
all  points  to  encounter  the  biting  wind  which  swept  the  open  plain 
beyond.  And  here  I  may  remark,  that  although  the  cold  winds 
in  this  prairie  country  have  a  power  that  I  had  no  idea  of  till  I 
experienced  it,  yet  the  people  dress  so  much  more  rationally  than 


A    WIXTKR    TX     llll-.    Wi.si'.  5^ 

they  do  at  the  north  on  the  sea-board,  that  health  and  even  conv 
fort  are  but  Httle  invaded. 

I  remember,  when  first  overtaken  by  the  cold  weather  un  the 
prairies,  I  was  traveling  with  a  simple  furred  wrapper  as  an  over- 
coat and  a  pair  of  carpet  socks  over  my  boots ;  tlie  last  of  which. 
from  their  clumsy  and  effeminate  appearance,  I  loni<  neglected  tii 
put  on.  But  on  arriving  one  night  at  a  lonely  shanty,  I  found  an 
old  Indian  trader  just  disencumbering  himself  of  his  traveling 
gear,  and  the  lesson  has  not  been  readily  forgotten.  His  disrob- 
ing reminded  me  of  the  grave-digger  in  Hamlet  with  his  sixteen 
jackets,  (a  stale  joke,  by  the  by,  which  is  now  rarely  practised 
upon  the  stage,) — and  a  man-at-arms  of  the  fifteenth  century,  witli 
his  armor  of  plate  and  triple  coat  of  twisted  mail,  was  not  ca.scd 
in  better  proof  than  was  my  Indian  trader.  Among  the  articles 
of  dress  that  I  recollect,  were  a  blanket-coat  over  an  ordinary  sur- 
tout,  a  plaid  cloak  upon  that,  and  a  buffalo-robe  trumping  the 
whole;  while  three  pair  of  woollen  socks,  buckskin  moccasins, 
and  long  boots  of  buffalo-skin  with  the  fur  inside,  assisted  his 
leggins  of  green  baize  in  keeping  his  extremities  warm;  and  a 
huge  hood  and  visor  of  fur  set  Jack  Frost  at  defiance  should  he 
assail  from  above.  I  do  not  by  any  means  mention  all  these 
defences  as  constituting  the  ordinary  apparel  of  the  country;  for 
every  one  on  the  frontier  dresses  just  as  he  pleases,  and  whether 
he  has  his  blankets  and  skins  made  up  into  i  oats  and  boots,  or 
wears  them  loose  about  his  person,  no  one  comments  upon  it. 
The  utmost  freedom  of  dress  prevails ;  and  you  may  see  the  same 
person  three  days  in  succession  with  a  leather  hunting-shirt,  a  sur- 
tout  of  scarlet  woollen,  or  a  coat  of  superfine  broadcloth  just  from 
St.  Louis,  all  worn  in  any  company  with  the  same  air  of  independ- 
ence; and  while  several  colors  and  textures  frequently  combine 
in  the  same  dress,  the  result  is  of  course  an  outrageous  violation 
of  taste  in  individual  instances,  but  great  picturesqueness  oi  cos- 
tume upon  the  whole:  the  very  figure  whose  apparel  is  most  ob- 
noxious to  the  laws  of  good  taste  as  last  enacted  by  fashion,  bcmg 
often  that  which,  of  all  others,  a  painter  wouUl  introduce  uito  a 
landscape  to  relieve  its  colors,  or  copy  for  some  romantic  charm 
of  its  own. 

The  country  through  which  we  now  drove,  though  only  inter- 
spersed here  and  there  with  woodland,  presented  a  very  difierent 
appearance  from  the  open  prairie  below.  In  the  vicmity  ot 
Galena  it  was  much  broken  bv  rocky  ravmes  and  deep  gullies. 
which,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  must  aftord  a  ready  pass.ige  lor 
the  water  created  by  the  melting  of  large  bodies  of  snow;  and  lar 
away  toward  the  Mississippi,  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  showed 


54  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

like  a  distant  range  of  mountains,  that  on  nearer  approach  resolved 
themselves  into  three  or  four  distinct  hills,  which  again  on  reach- 
ing their  banks  proved  to  be  only  rocky  eminences,  of  a  few  hun- 
dred feet  elevation — standing  isolated  on  the  vast  plain,  like 
excrescences  thrown  up  by  some  eruption  from  its  surface.  Be- 
yond these,  again,  the  country  became  beautifully  undulating; 
and  when  the  warm  light  of  sunset  glanced  along  the  tall  yellow 
grass  which  raised  its  tapering  spears  above  the  snowy  surface, 
and  the  purple  light  of  evening  deepened  in  the  scattered  groves 
that  rested  on  its  bosom,  it  required  no  exercise  of  fancy  to  con- 
ceive that  these  were  sloping  lawns,  and  smooth  meadows,  and 
open  parks,  which  the  gathering  shades  of  night  were  stealing 
from  the  eye.  But  at  last,  just  where  the  landscape  was  becom- 
ing almost  too  broken  to  keep  up  these  associations  of  high  culti- 
vation, a  distant  light  appeared  glimmering  at  the  bottom  of  a 
rocky  valley;  and  slipping  and  floundering  through  the  snow 
which  partially  smoothed  the  rugged  descent,  we  entered  a  small 
hamlet  of  log-huts,  and  drove  up  to  the  door  of  a  frame-building, 
which  proved  to  be  the  public-house  of  "-Mineral  Point." 

A  pordy  Tennesseean,  of  some  six  feet  high,  received  us  warmly 
at  the  door,  and  hurried  me  into  a  room  where  a  large  fire  of  burr- 
oak,  and  a  smoking  supper  of  venison  and  hot  corn-cakes,  were 
alike  welcome.  Half  a  dozen  miners  in  leather  shirts  or  belted 
coats  of  Kentucky  jean  were  lounging  about  the  establishment; 
while  a  tall  backwoodsman,  in  a  fringed  hunting-frock,  was 
stretched  on  several  chairs,  with  a  pipe  in  one  hand,  and  the 
other  resting  on  a  Pelham  novel,  which,  with  a  volume  of  Shakes- 
peare, an  old  biBle,  and  the  "Western  Songster,"  formed  a  pyra- 
mid beneath  his  brawny  arm.  "Whirling  Thunder,"  the  AVinne- 
bago  chief,  had,  as  I  was  informed,  just  left  the  establishment,  or 
our  party  would  have  been  perfect.  The  old  fellow,  who,  I  pre- 
sume, is  superannuated,  had  been  breathing  revenge  and  slaughter 
against  the  Sauks  and  Foxes,  who,  he  says,  have  killed  a  number 
of  his  tribe,  and  he  avows  a  determination  to  come  down  upon 
the  enemy  with  seven  hundred  warriors;*  though  I  believe  it  is 

*  The  animosity  existinij  between  these  warlike  tribes,  it  would  seem,  has 
lately  manifested  itself  beneath  the  very  guns  of  Fort  Crawford.  In  an  article 
which  appeared  in  the  St.  Louis  papers,  while  these  pages  were  passing 
through  the  press,  it  is  stated,  under  date  of  November  iSth,  that  "The  In- 
dians in  the  vicinity  of  Prairie  du  Chien  have  again  been  engaged  in  hostile 
acts,  which  portend  a  serious  termination.  A  party  of  .Sauks  and  Fo.xs,  after 
killing  several  Menomones  on  Grant  River,  attacked  a  lodge  of  Winnebagoes 
on  an  island  about  three  miles  above  Prairie  du  Chien.  It  was  occupied  at 
the  time  by  women  and  children  only,  the  warriors  being  absent  on  a  hunting 
excursion.     Suddenly  the  -Sauk-and-Fox  party  made  their  appearance  before 


A   WINTER   IN    Till-;   WKST. 


55 


-well  known  that  there  are  not  at  present  half  the  numher  in  his 
.tribe,  and  they  scattered  far  and  wide  on  their  hunting  expeditions. 
As  it  was,  however,  I  found  the  company  into  which  I  was  thrown 
in  more  than  one  way  agreeable.  'I'hey  were  civil  anil  cunvcr.vi- 
l)le;  and  when  a  cigar  was  handed  me  by  a  well-dressed  gentle- 
man engaged  in  the  mines,  who  had  sat  down  to  supper  with  us, 
1  stretched  my  legs  before  the  fire,  and  soon  felt  myself  i)errectly 
at  home.  The  rumors  of  Indian  wars,  with  the  incitlenls  in  those 
already  gone  by,  being  thoroughly  discussed,  feats  of  strength  and 
activity  were  next  introduced;  whereat,  a  burly,  broad-shouldered 
fellow,  with  a  head  of  hair  like  a  boat's  swab,  junijied  on  his  fc-ct, 
.and  shaking  the  flaps  of  his  rough  kersey  doublet  like  pair  of 
wings,  he  crowed  and  swore  that  he  could  throw  anv  man  of  his 
weight  in  the  mines.  "Why,  Bill  Armstrong,''  cried  a  little  old 
man,  who  I  was  assured  was  nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  shaking 
the  ashes  from  his  pipe  the  while,  "1  could  double  up  two  such 
fellows  as  you  in  my  time ;  and  I  think  as  it  is  (slowly  rising  and 
collaring  the  puissant  Bill),  I'll  whip  one  of  them  now  for  a  treat ;" 
they  grappled  at  once,  and  Armstrong  good-naturedly  allowing 
the  old  man  to  put  him  down,  a  laugh  was  raised  at  his  exi>ense. 
But  Bill  was  too  much  a  cock-of-the-walk  to  mind  it;  and,  strid- 
ing up  to  the  bar,  he  called  out,  "Come  here,  old  fellow,  and  take 
your  treat — your  a  steamboat;  but  who  couldn't  be  beat  by  a  fel- 
low that  had  forty  years  the  advantage  of  him!" 

The   next   day's  sun   found  us,  when   a  few  hours  high,  in  a 
country  which,  though  not  a  house  was  to  be  seen  for  miles,  1  can 

the  lodge,  fired  into  it,  tomahawked  and  scalped  tai  of  the  inmates.  ^  Hut  one 
of  the  Sauk  warriors  lost  his  life,  and  that  was  by  the  iiand  of  a  Winnebago 
boy,  about  fifteen  years  of  age.  The  youth  was  standing  at  the  door  of  the 
lodge,  between  a  younger  brother  and  sister,  when  two  of  the  warriors  made 
their  appearance  and  fired  upon  them.  Recollecting  instantly  that  an  old  jjun 
remained  in  the  lodge  loaded,  he  procured  it,  and  awaited  the  return  of  the 
foe,  who  had  retreated  for  the  purpose  of  reloading  their  guns.  As  soon  as 
they  appeared  before  him,  he  took  deliberate  aim  at  one  of  them,  tired.  .inU 
the  bullet  went  through  the  heart  of  his  enemy.  He  then  escaped  at  the  m- 
terior  of  the  lodge,  made  his  way  for  the  river,  swam  it,  and  gave  mform.-ition 
of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Crawford.  A  detachment  of  troops  was  immediately 
ordered  out  in  pursuit  of  the  murderers,  but,  as  far  as  known,  withuut  micccss. 
The  Winnebagoes,  it  is  said,  had  determined  on  retaliation,  and  ihoir  warriors 
were  already  collecting.  Their  foe,  it  is  also  known,  are  ready  to  receive 
them;  having  been  recently  arming  and  equipping  themselves  for  hglit.  o- 
ward  the  Winnebagoes  all  parties  of  the  Sauks  and  I'oxes  have  an  un-lyinK 
hatred.  They  view  them  as  having  been  the  cause,  by  their  bad  coun-v  .. 
all  the  calamities  brought  upon  them  by  the  late  war,  and  as  having  .= 
treacherous  and  infamous  part  at  the  termination  of  it.  .Many  '•'f;-'""^  ;"'';;' 
concur  to  make  it  more  than  probable  that,  should  a  contlict  lake  place,  H 
')e  a  long  and  bloody  one." 


56  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

only  compare,  with  its  intermingling  of  prairies  and  groves,  rocky- 
ravines  and  rapid  brooks  of  sparkling  water,  to  the  appearance 
which  the  beautiful  cultivated  districts  along  the  Hudson  would 
present  if  the  fences  and  farm-houses  were  taken  away.     Its  varied 
aspect  was  far  more  pleasing  to  my  eye  than  the  immense  plains- 
of  table-land  below,  where  the  sound  of  a  waterfall  is  never  to  be 
heard,  and  a  stone  larger  than  a  pebble  is  (unless  on  the  banks  of 
the  Illinois)  rarely  met  with.     The  soil,  indeed,  is  not  so  rich, 
but  the  country  is  unquestionably  more  healthy;  and  though  the 
climate  is  actually  more  severe  in  winter,  yet  the  wind  is  so  much 
broken  by  the  numerous  groves  and  the  general  inequalities  of 
surface,  that  one  suffers  much  less  from  cold.     A  great  error  is- 
committed  by  Government  in  keeping  the  wild  land  of  this  regions 
out  of  market ;  for  the  patches  of  woodland,  though  frequent,  are 
not  so  dense  as  those  below;  and  the  number  of  smelting-furnaces- 
of  lead-ore,  which  are  scattered  over  the  whole  country  betweert 
Rock  River  and  the  Ouisconsin,  tends  to  diminish  them  so  rapid- 
ly, that  a  dozen  years  hence  wood  enough  will  hardly  be  left  forj 
the   ordinary  purposes  of  the  farmer.      Whatever  measures   are! 
adopted,  however — and  I  believe  there  is  a  bill  in  relation  to  these 
lands  now  pending  in  Congress — the  pre-emption  rights  of  thej 
tirst  settlers  should  be  secured  in  the  most  liberal  manner.     Their| 
sufferings  from  three  Indian  wars  within  ten  years,  and  their  en- 
durance of  every  risk  and  privatiorij  are  almost  incredible;  and,! 
considering  that  it  will  take  them  some  time  now-  to  recover  from] 
the  last  affair  of  Black  Hawk,  Government  ought  to  give  them 
several  years'  credit;  but  the  early  sale  of  the  lands  I  believe  to  I 
be  indispensable  to  the  future  welfare  of  one  of  the  finest  regions] 
in  the  world.     The  truth  is,  that  no  smelting  should  be  done  in 
the  interior;    but  the  mineral  should  be   transported   to   points 
where  fuel  is  more  abundant,  and  the  timber  now  growing  upon 
the  spot  left  for  the  use  of  the  farmers  and  miners,  to  whom  it  is 
indispensable  for  the  prosecution  of  their  labors.     Such  will  hardly 
be  the  case  until  a  property  in  lands  is  established,  and  individuals 
are  no  longer  permitted  to  sweep  grove  after  grove  from  the  soil, 
till  the  country  begins  to  assimilate  in  some  places  to  those  leaf- 
tracks  in  Illinois,  which  will  probably  remain  unsettled  prairie  for 
a  century  to  come. 

I  was  particularly  struck  with  the  bold  life  which  these  miners 
have  long  led— the  chief  dangers  of  which,  it  is  presumed,  are  now 
over— by  observing  a  strong  block-house  erected  among  a  cluster 
of  small  shanties,  where  two  brothers  lived,  with  whom  we  stopped 
to  take  some  refreshment  at  noon.     Thev  were  miners  and  farmers 


A   WIXTKR    IN    THE   WKST.  5;- 

together;  and  carrying  on  their  business  remote  from  any  otlu-r 
house  or  settlement,  they  probably  sent  the  mineral  and  vegetal  lie- 
productions  of  their  favored  soil  to  market  at  (lalena  in  the  same 
car.  They  had  struck  the  vein  of  ore  which  they  were  working 
in  badger-hunting — the  habits  of  that  animal  being  of  great  assist 
ance  to  the  miner  in  exploring  for  mineral.  1  saw  at  the  sanu- 
place  a  fine  dog  terribly  gored  by  a  wild  boar — the  descendant  of 
the  domestic  hog,  which  runs  wild  in  this  region,  and  sometimes 
makes  a  good  hunt. 

Our  route  hither,  which  was  by  no  means  direct,  carried  us 
through  a  broken  savage  country,  where  a  thousand  clear  streams 
seemed  to  have  their  birth  among  the  rocks,  singing  away,  though 
the  earth  was  wrapped 

"In  sap-consuming  winter's  drizzled  snow," 

as  if  the  leaves  of  June  (juivered  over  their  crystal  currents.  .\t 
one  time,  these  crisped  fountains  were  the  only  objects  that  gave 
life  to  a  burnt  forest  through  which  we  rode,  where  the  tall,  brandi- 
less,  and  charred  trees  stood  motionless  on  the  steep  hill-side,  or 
lay  in  wild  disorder  as  they  had  tumbled  from  the  rocky  height.s 
into  a  ravine  below.  Emerging  from  this  desolate  region,  where 
the  tracks  of  bears  and  other  wild  animals  were  to  be  seen  on 
every  side,  we  launched  out  on  one  of  the  loveliest  prairies  I  ever 
beheld.  It  was  about  a  mile  wide,  and  not  more  than  four  or  fi ve- 
in length,  and  smooth  as  a  billiard-table,  with  two  small  isjets  of 
wood  in  the  centre.  Our  horses,  which  had  seemed  almost  tagqtil 
out  by  slipping  and  stumbling  among  the  rocks  and  fallen  trees  in 
the  timbered  land,  now  pricked  up  their  ears  and  snorted  with 
animation  as  they  made  our  light  sleigh  skim  over  the  smooth 
plain. 

It  was  afternoon  on  the  third  day  after  leaving  Oalena,  that  on 
descending  an  abrupt  steppe  of  about  fifty  yards,  we  came  to  a 
small  tributary  of  the  Ouisconsin,  winding  tlirough  a  narrow  valley 
below.      Following  down  the  slender  rill,  whose  banks  exhibited 
no  shrubbery  save  a  few  dwarf  willows,  we  crossed  a  wooded  but 
tom,  where  the  long  grass  among  the  trees  shot  above  the  snow 
to  the  height  of  our  horses'  shoulders,  and  reached  at  last  the 
Ouisconsin,  where  the  stream  might  be  near  a-cpiarter  of  a  mile 
wide.     After  trying  the  ice  in  se\eral  places  with  long  poles,  we 
ventured  at  last  to  cross;  and,  scaling  a  bold  bhift  at  the  opp.-  •■ 
side,  paused  a  moment  at  a  trading-house,  owned  by  a  l-rn.. 
man,   to  let  our  horses  blow.      A   band   of  Winnebagoes   were 
standing  at  the  door;  and  as  they  were  all  in  mourning  for  some 


58  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

recently-deceased  relations,*  their  broad  blunt  features,  blackened 
as  they  were,  made  them  look  like  Hottentots.  A  ride  of  six 
miles,  through  a  high  rolling  prairie  interspersed  with  open  groves 
of  oak,  brought  us  at  last  in  view  of  the  bluffs  of  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi, rising  in  rocky  masses  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  bed  of  that  beautiful  'river,  whose  iron-bound 
banks  and  gentle  crystalline  current  bear  but  little  affinity  to  the 
marshy  shores  and  turbid  tide  which  are  distinguished  by  the 
same  name,  after  the  Missouri  gives  a  new  character  to  its  waters. 
Never  shall  I  forget  the  first  view  of  "The  Father  of  Rivers,"  as 
a  reach  of  several  miles — shut  in,  partly  by  its  own  bluffs,  and 
partly  by  those  of  the  Ouisconsin,  with  its  numerous  islets  smiling 
in  the  light  of  the  setting  sun — stretched  like  some  comely  lake 
of  the  west  before  my  eye.  It  was  girdled,  apparently,  by  inac- 
cessible clifts  on  three  sides,  and  fringed  by  a  broad  meadow, 
which,  in  its  turn,  was  bounded  and  sheltered  by  lofty  bluffs,  on 
the  fourth.  That  meadow  lay  now  beneath  me,  and  it  was  Prairie 
du  Chien. 

Prairie  du  Chien,  Upper  Miss.,  Feb.  12th,  1834. 

The  shadows  of  its  western  bluffs  had  deepened  far  over  the 
broad  surface  of  the  ice-bound  Mississippi,  though  a  flooc^  of  yel- 
low light  still  bathed  the  gray  walls  of  Fort  Crawford,  as  its  exten- 

*  The  Winnebagoes,  as  they  are  the  most  savage-looking,  are  among  the 
haughtiest  of  the  tribesmen.  They  differ  in  many  respects  from  the  neighbor- 
ing clans;  and  Carver  says,  that  in  his  time  there  was  a  tradition  in  the  coun- 
try that  the  nation  sprung  from  "some  strolling  bands  from  the  Mexican  coun- 
tries. "  In  "  Long's  Expedition"  they  are  mentioned  as  being  of  distinct  origin 
from  the  Algonquin  tribes,  and  their  language  is  said  to  present  greater  diffi- 
culties than  any  of  the  northern  dialects.  "It  abounds,"  says  that  work,  "in 
harsh  and  guttural  sounds,  and  in  the  letter  r,  which  does  not  appear  to  be 
common  in  the  Algonquin  languages.  It  is  difficult  to  obtain  correct  informa- 
tion concerning  the  manners  and  characters  of  the  Winnebagoes,  as  a  strong 
prejudice  appears  to  prevail  against  them.  They  are  considered  unfriendly  to 
white  men,  and  this,  instead  of  being  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  favorable  trait 
of  their  character,  as  indicative  of  a  high  spirit  which  can  resent  injustice  and 
oppression,  and  which  will  not  crouch  before  the  aggressor,  has  been  the  occa- 
sion of  much  ill-wind  toward  them." — Long's  Expedition,  page  216. 

The  custom  of  blacking  the  face  by  way  of  mourning,  as  mentioned  in  the 
text,  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  Winnebagoes : — 

"The  Indians  are  particular  in  their  demonstrations  of  grief  for  departed 
friends;  they  consist  in  darkening  their  fices  with  charcoal,  fasting,  abstaining 
from  the  use  of  vermilion  and  other  ornaments  in  dress,  etc. ;  they  also  make 
incisions  in  their  arms,  legs,  and  other  parts  of  the  body.  These  are  not  made 
for  the  purposes  of  mortification,  or  to  create  a  pain  which  shall,  by  dividing 
their  attention,  efface  the  recollection  of  their  loss;  but  entirely  from  a  belief 
that  their  grief  is  internal,  and  that  the  only  way  of  dispelling  it  is  to  give  it 
a  vent  through  which  to  escape." — Ibid.,  page  226. 


A    \VINTER    TX    Till,    W  KS'I'. 


59 


sive  barracks  lay  in  the  form  of  an  isolated  S(|uare  on  the  level 
meadow  beneath  us;  while,  farther  to  the  north,  a  number  of 
dingy-wooden  buildings,  which  looked  like  a  fishing  haml'Jt,*  on 
the  immediate  bank  of  the  river,  were  momentarily  growing  more 
indistinct  in  the  advancing  twilight  as  we  approached  their  pur- 
lieus, and   drove  up  to  a  cabaret  about    half  a  mile  from   the 


garrison. 


It  was  within  pistol-shot  of  the  river;  a  comfortable  frame 
building,  with  a  stockade-fence  around  it.  made  with  pickets,  some 
ten  or  tifteen  feet  high;  a  voyagciir  or  two,  with  a  few  half-breed- 
looking  residents,  were  loitering  about  the  door;  and  a  tall  .\lc- 
nomone  Indian,  with  a  tuft  of  drooping  feathers  on  his  crown,  was 
standing  with  folded  arms  apart  from  the  rest. 

A  portly  soldier-like  Cierman,  who  had  formerly  been  a  non- 
commissioned officer  in  the  infantry,  proved  to  be  the  landlord, 
and  bowed  me,  like  a  master  of  his  business,  into  a  room  heated 
to  suffocation  by  a  large  Canadian  stove,  placing  at  the  same 
time  a  strip  of  newly-written  paper  in  my  hands.  Imagine  m\ 
surprise  when  I  discovered  it  to  be  a  ]jlay-l)ill!  "The ////'//V 
were  respectfully  informed,  that  the  sterling  Knglish  comedy  of 

*  Carver,  who  visited  Prairie  du  Chien  in  1766,  describes  it,  under  the 
name  of  "The  Lower  Town  of  the  Ottagaumies, "  a,  a  larjje  place,  "contain- 
ing three  hundred  families.  The  houses,"  he  adds,  "are  well  liuilt,  .nftcr  the 
Indian  manner,  and  pleasantly  situated  on  a  very  rich  soil,  from  which  they 
raise  every  necessary  of  life  in  abundance.  This  town  is  the  great  mart  wlicre 
all  the  adjacent  tribes,  and  even  those  who  inhabit  the  most  remote  branches 
of  the  Mississippi,  annually  assemble  about  the  latter  end  of  .May,  brini^inj; 
with  them  their  furs  to  dispose  of  to  the  traders."  The  aspect  of  the  village 
is  very  different  at  present.  It  consists,  e.xclu.sive  of  two  or  three  frame-built 
stores,  of  some  five-and-twenty  rude  and  ruinous  dwelling-houses,  whirli  arc 
almost  black  with  age,  and  the  population  can  hardly  amount  to  twu  hundred 
souls.  The  situation  of  the  hamlet  and  the  features  of  the  country  adj.accnt 
are  thus  described  in  "Long's  Second  Expedition  :"—" The  village  of  I'r^inc 
du  Chien  is  situated  four  or  five  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  \N  i.cons.-in  on 
a  beautiful  prairie,  which  extends  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  for  .il>.>u« 
ten  miles  in  length,  and  which  is  limited  to  the  east  by  a  range  of  steep  liilU, 
rising  to  a  height  of  about  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet,  and  nmmiii;  par- 
allel with  the  course  of  the  river  about  a  mile  and  a-half.  On  the  western 
bank  are  bluffs  which  rise  to  the  same  elevation,  and  are  washed  at  their  Iws* 
by  the  river.  'Pike's  Hill,'  which  is  on  the  west  b.ank,  .mmedialely  opj>o*uc 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsan,  is  about  five  hundred  and  lifty  Icet  hi-li.  l  ne 
hill  has  no  particular  limits  in  regard  to  its  extent,  bem^  merely  a  i-art  ol  inc 
river's  bluffs,  which  stretch  along  the  margin  of  the  river  on  "'^  «'^''  *"'' 
retain  pretty  nearly  the  same  elevation  above  the  water.     In  general  the  atcm- 


ma] 
page  238. 


60  A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST. 

"Who  Wants  a  Guinea?'  and  Fielding's  afterpiece  of  "Don 
Quixote  in  England,"  with  songs,  recitations,  etc.,  would  be  pre- 
sented this  evening,  by  the  soldiers  of  the  First  Regiment  at  Fort 
Crawford.  Nothing  could  be  more  apropos.  I  had  just  ascertained 
that  on  account  of  the  present  deep  snows,  with  the  prospect  of 
an  early  thaw,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  get  up  to  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  whither  my  ambition  led  me,  at  this  season; 
and  having  now  no  further  plans  to  arrange  during  the  evening, 
and  being  wholly  unprovided  with  letters  to  the  officers  of  the 
garrison,  I  was  really  rejoiced  at  such  an  opportunity  of  entering 
its  walls  incognito. 

The  sleigh  in  which  I  had  come  carried  me  in  a  few  minutes 
within  the  sally-port,  and  handing  the  ticket  with  which  mine 
host  had  provided  me  to  a  soldier  who  acted  as  door-keeper,  I 
entered  a  large  barrack-room,  fitted  up  very  neatly  as  a  theatre  by 
the  soldiers  themselves;  the  scenery,  quite  cleverly  done,  being 
all  painted  by  them,  and  the  lights,  ingeniously  placed  in  bayo- 
nets, prettily  arranged, — a  contrivance  suggested  by  their  own 
taste.  The  seats,  rising  like  the  pit  of  a  theatre,  were  so  adjusted 
as  to  separate  the  audience  into  three  divisions :  the  officers  with 
their  families  furnished  one,  the  soldiers  another,  and  "gumboes,"' 
Indians,  and  a  negro  servant  or  two  made  up  the  third.  A 
superb-looking  squaw  of  the  Sauk-and-Fox*  tribe  attracted  my 
attention  as  I  entered  the  room,  and  prevented  me  from  advan- 
cing beyond  the  worshipful  part  of  the  assemblage  last  mentioned, 
as  she  sat  between  two  pretty  but  plainly-dressed  Menomonet 
girls,  in  a  more  rich  and  beautiful  costume  than  I  ever  saw  at  a 
fancy  ball.  The  curtain  rose  while  I  was  studying  her  noble 
features  and  tasteful  finery,  and  contrasting  the  striking  and  some- 
what voluptuous  character  of  both  with  the  simple  attire  and  less 
mature  charms  of  the  two  nut-brown  beauties  beside  her.  Every 
eye  was   then  directed  to  the  stage,  and   I  remained   standing 

*  "The  united  bands  of  the  Saukies  and  Ottigaumies,  the  French  nicknamed, 
according  to  their  wonted  custom,  Des  Sacs  and  Des  Renards — the  Sacks  and 
tlie  Foxes." — Carver. 

t  The  Me-no-mo-ne,  or  wild-rice-eaters,  is  a  broken  band  that  served  with 
effect  against  the  Sauks  and  Foxes  in  the  Indian  difficulties  of  1832.  They 
are  a  finely-shaped  people,  of  a  much  lighter  complexion  than  the  other  north- 
western tribes,  and  exhibit  a  great  deal  of  taste  in  preparing,  and  neatness  in 
wearing,  the  various  articles  of  Indian  dress — ornamented  belts,  gaiters,  sheaths 
for  knives,  moccasins,  etc.  In  Long's  Expedition  they  are  mentioned  as  "The 
White  Indians,"  and  are  supposed  not  to  belong  to  the  Algonquin  stock.  It 
is  said  that  few  white  men  have  ever  been  able  to  learn  their  language;  and 
in  their  intercourse  they  use  the  melange  of  the  Chippewa,  Ottawa,  and  Pot- 
tawatomie dialects,  which  is  the  common  medium  of  communication  on  the 
frontier. — See  Long' s  Expedition,  Charlevoix,  etc. 


A  WINTER   IN    Tin-:   \VKST.  6l 

against  the  door-post  till  the  act  was  concluded:  and  then,  just 
as  I  was  wishing  for  some  one  to  whom  to  express  my  surprise  ai 
the  degree  of  skill  and  judgment  with  which  the  soklicrs  played, 
considering  they  were  but  amateurs,  an  officer  made  his  way  uj) 
to  me,  and  very  politely  insisted  upon  my  taking  his  seat  in  life 
more  favored  part  of  the  house.     The  ordinary  interchange  of 
commonplaces  between   gentlemen   who  are   strangers   to   each 
other  ensued,  and  then,  without  his  knowing  my  name  or  the 
slightest  circumstance  in  relation  to  me,  an  invitation  to  take  up 
my  quarters  in  the  garrison  followed.      I  declined  the  invitation, 
but  we  exchanged  cards;  and  I  had  hardly  got  through  breakfast 
in  the  morning,  when  my  new  acquaintance,   accompanied  by 
Colonel  T.,  the  commandant,  and  a  young  sTibaltern.  called  to 
repeat  the  invitation   of  the  evening  before;   bringing  a  soldier 
with  a  sled  to  transport  my  baggage,  and  a  led  liorse  to  carry  my- 
self over  to  the  garrison.     It  w^ould  have  been  absurd  to  meet 
such  cordial  proffers  of  hospitality  with  further  ceremony:  and 
an  hour  after  found  me  with  a  handsomely-furnished  room  of  my 
own,  a  fine  saddle-horse  placed  at  my  disposal,  and  a  servant  at 
my  call,  sitting  down  to  the  mess  with  as  fine  a  set  of  )-oung  fel- 
lows as  I  ever  met  with.     I  have  been  particular  in  describing  my 
initiation  into  this  agreeable  and  accomi)lished  circle,  merely  to 
give  you  some  idea  of  the  gentleman-like  courtesy  and  frank  hos- 
pitality which  distinguish  the  officers  of  the  army,  wherever  1  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  them. 

I  have  now  been  here  nearly  two  weeks.  The  weather  has 
been  mild  and  beautiful,  and  my  time,  in  such  congenial  society, 
passes  delightfully;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  when  I  wake  each 
morn  at  rei'eiUe,  it  is  with  a  kind  of  sad  feeling  I  remember  that 
the  twenty-four  hours  just  passed  brings  me  nearer  to  the  time 
when  I  must  start  again  on  my  solitary  tour,  through  a  region 
where  fortune  can  hardly  throw  me  a  second  time  among  si't-Ii 
companions.  .  , 

The  garrison  here  consists  of  five  companies  of  inkmtry.  under 
the  command  of  a  lieutenant-colonel.  They  are  well  quartered 
in  very  handsome  barracks,  built  by  the  soldiers  themselves  ol 
cut  stone;  the  buildings  being  arranged  m  the  lorm  ol  a  s.juare. 
and  enclosing  an  area  large  enough  for  a  battalion  to  drill  in. 
The  parade  is  nicely  graveled,  and  a  colonnade  winch  e.xtcnds 
round  three  sides  of  the  parade,  gives  a  cheerful  asi^ect  to  nc 
whole.  The  hospital  stands  by  itself  on  a  slight  knol  al.ou  a 
hundred  yards  from  the  barracks,  and  both  are  pleasantly  situ.itui 
near  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  The  place,  as  it  ""J  ^^^"^^' 
would  be  easily  tenable  against  hordes  of  Indians,  sh..uld  lhc)^i)e 


62  A   WINTER    IN    THE   WEST. 

mad  enough  to  assail  it.  There  is  not  a  tree  around  it,  and  it  is 
furnished  with  a  park  of  artillery,  which,  from  an  open  interval 
left  at  each  angle  of  the  parallelogram,  could  sweep  the  whole 
prairie.  But  these  openings,  which  are  flanked  by  no  works- 
whatsoever,  by  breaking  the  unity  of  the  square,  destroy  even  the 
appearance  of  a  fortification ;  and  the  i)lace,  if  not  carried  by  an 
assault  from  a  regular  force,  would  easily  fall  before  its  formal 
approaches.  Such  an  attack  was  indeed  never  contemplated 
when  Fort  Crawford — which  was  only  intended  to  overawe  the 
Indians — was  erected;  but  even  in  a  collection  of  barracks,  one 
likes  to  see  them  so  disposed  as  to  preserve  a  military  air.  There 
is  a  small  but  well-chosen  library  belonging  to  the  post,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  companies  have  quite  good  miscellaneous  libraries  of 
their  own, — a  fact  exceedingly  creditable  to  the  private  soldiers. 
The  amusements  of  the  ])lace,  so  far  as  society  is  concerned,  are 
of  course  limited.  The  officers"  families  do  indeed  make  a  small 
circle;  and  for  those  who  like  to  study  life  in  all  its  phases,  there 
is  the  little  village  of  Prairie  du  Chien  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
garrison,  with  its  antique-looking  timber-built  houses,  containing 
an  amphibious  population  of  voyagenrs  and  hunters,  half- French 
and  half-l,ndian.  Here  the  officers  sometimes  amuse  themselves 
in  getting  up  what  is  called  a  gumbo  ball,  which,  from  the  descrip- 
tions I  have  had  of  them,  must  be  a  kind  of  harlequinade  I  should 
very  much  like  to  see.  Sporting,  however, — when  the  resources 
of  the  library  are  exhausted,  or  a  pipe  of  kinnekinic  ceases  tO' 
charm, — is  the  great  source  of  amusement  at  Prairie  du  Chien. 
The  grouse  now  keep  in  large  packs  near  the  garrison;  snipe,  too, 
1  am  told,  are  abundant  when  in  season,  and  of  ducks  I  am  as- 
sured it  is  easy  to  kill  a  canoe-load,  when  they  begin  to  fly  along 
the  Mississippi.  Klk,  bear,  and  wolves  are  the  game  of  those 
who  are  more  ambitious  in  their  sport,  and  choose  to  go  farther 
to  seek  it.  The  meat  of  the  first  I  have  not  yet  tasted,  but  I 
made  a  capital  dinner  yesterday  from  a  sirloin  of  the  second,  at 
the  commandant's  (juarters.  Bruin  was  served  up  in  handsome 
style,  and  some  old  wine  from  Colonel  T.'s  hospitable  cellar 
relished  in  this  latitude. 

The  scenery  round  Prairie  du  Chien  would  please  you  much.. 
The  snow  has  now  entirely  left  the  bosom  of  the  prairie,  though 
it  still  hangs  like  flakes  of  morning  mist  round  the  rocky  brows  of 
the  adjacent  bluffs.  The  singular  landscape  created  by  these 
bold  heights  has  been  called  monotonous;  but  I  do  not  find  it  so. 
Not  a  day,  not  an  hour  passes,  but  they  i>resent  some  new  appear- 
ance. Each  shifting  cloud  brings  out  some  new  angle  of  the 
gigantic  blocks;  and,  whether  the  rosy  tints  of  dawn  warm  their 


A   WINTER   IN    THE   WEST.  r,^ 

Steep  sullen  brows,  or  the  glare  of  noon  settles  on  ilicir  roiui.l 
summits,  and  tries  to  pierce  the  deep  ravines  which  hh^lc  then) 
out  from  each  other,  or  sunset,  with  its  mellow  hues,  lingers 
among  the  long  grass  which  i)aints  their  "umbered  face,"  where 
they  first  swell  from  the  plain, — to  me  they  are  always  lovely, 
grand,  and  peculiar.  I  ascended  one  of  them,  accompanied  hy 
an  officer  on  horseback,  the  other  day,  by  winding  up  a  ravine  in 
the  rear,  which  brought  us  on  a  round,  bold,  grassy  height,  about 
one  hundred  feet  above  the  prairie;  to  which  the  bluff  desceiuled 
by  two  sheer  precipices  of  rock,  of  about  a  hundred  feet  each, 
with  alternate  slopes  of  soil,  covered  with  long  yellow  grass  the 
whole  having  the  appearance  of  some  vast  fortress — an  enormous 
bastion  thrown  up  in  huge  layers  of  earth  and  stone.  On  the 
very  summit  was  one  of  those  ancient  fortifications,  the  mysteri- 
ous mementoes  of  an  unknown  race,  whose  gigantic  and  enduring 
works  are  scattered  over  thousands  of  leagues  of  this  continent, 
to  puzzle  the  curious  and  set  at  naught  the  surmises  of  the  anti-  ' 
quary.*  I  trod  each  winding  of  the  turf-covered  rampart,  and 
counted  what  appeared  to  be  the  embrasures  for  artillery,  as  my 
military  friend  commented  upon  the  position,  and  described  a 
number  of  similar  remains  which  he  had  examined  in  dilierent 
parts  of  the  Western  country:  while  we  alike  dissented  from  the 
unsatisfactory  conclusions  of  those  closet  theorists  who  would 
attribute  the  fortified  appearance  of  this  tall  elevation, — the  enor- 
mous mounds  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Louis, — the  sunken  remains  on 
the  alluvial  bottoms  of  Illinois, — the  perfect  forms  which  give  its 
name  to  Circleville  in  Ohio,  and  the  deep  intrenchments  which 
channel  the  rocky  hills  of  eastern  Kentucky,  alike  to  the  action 
of  water:  suppositions  upon  a  par  for  ingenuity  with  those  which 

*  These  curious  remains  are  very  mimerous  in  the  vicinity  of  rr.iiric  <lu 
Chien,  and  extend  alike  along  the  bluffs  which  face  the  Mississippi  and  ihosc 
which  run  parallel  to  the  Ouisconsin  (or  Wisconsan,  as  it  is  sometinics  writ- 
ten). The  former,  which  are  the  works  alluded  to  in  the  text,  are  thus  des- 
cribed by  Major  Long,  in  his  journal  of  1817:  — 

"The  remains  of  ancient  works,  constructed  probably  for  military  purjwscs 
were  found  more  numerous  and  of  greater  extent  on  the  Inghlands,  juM  alHivc 
the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsan,  than  any  of  which  a  d.-^cnpt.un  ha>  been  ni.idc 
public,  or  that  have  as  yet  been  discovered  in  the  western  country.  Ilierc  the 
parapets  and  mounds  were  found  connected  in  one  series  of  work-..  W  hcrevcr 
there  was  an  angle  in  the  principal  lines,  a  mound  of  the  largest  .m/c  w.is 
erected  at  the  angle;  the  parapets  were  terminated  by  mounds  at  each  cMrcmi- 
ty,  and  also  at  the  gateways.  No  ditch  was  observed  on  either  side  of  the 
•  parapet.  In  many  places  the  lines  were  composed  of  parai>ets  an.i  mounds  in 
conjunction,  the  mounds  being  arranged  along  the  parapets  at  their  UMial  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  and  operating  as  Hank  defences  to  the  lines. 

"The  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  I'rairie  du  Chien  can  give  no  account  of 


64  A   WINTER   IX    THE   WEST. 

account  for  the  existence  of  the  prairies  by  the  sudden  withdrawal 
of  the  same  element  from  what  was  formerly  the  beds  of  a  chain 
of  vast  inland  lakes.  The  same  prairies,  in  every  instance  that  I 
have  yet  seen,  except  the  single  one  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  being 
high  table-land,  some  sixty  or  a  hundred  feet  above  the  streams 
and  groves  which  occasionally  chequer  them.  I  forget  whether  I 
have  before  mentioned  that  the  Indian  name  for  prairie  (scutay) 
Avhich  means  also  Jire,  would  account  for  their  origin  with  any  one 
who  had  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  how  the  action  of  that 
element  extends  these  grassy  domains  every  season  in  one  direc- 
tion, while  it  leaves  them  to  shoot  up  into  a  luxuriant  growth  of 
young  forest  in  another.* 

But  turn  with  me  to  yonder  view  of  the  Mississippi,  where  a 
hundred  wooded  islets  of  every  possible  form  repose  upon  the 
glistening  ice  that  silvers  its  broad  bosom.  How  grandly  does 
the  bold  promontory  of  "Pike's  Hill,"  interlocked  as  it  seems  with 
the  gray  crags  of  the  Ouisconsin,  shut  in  the  lordly  stream  on  the 
south;  and  there,  where  the  blue  water  has  broken  its  white  fetters, 
and  those  diminutive  figures  are  leaping  from  one  ice-cake. to  an- 
other, as  they  sparkle  in  the  sun  along  the  smooth  eastern  shore, 
how  beautifully  the  tall,  brown  grass  bends  over  the  pebbly  mar- 
gin !  \'ou  may  look  now,  though  it  is  two  miles  ofif,  into  the  very 
centre  of  Fort  Crawford,  where  the  gleam  of  arms  Hashing  over 
the  sanded  parade  tells  of  troops  in  motion,  though  the  sound  of 
their  drums  can  hardly  reach  your  ears.  What  a  point  would  this 
be  from  which  to  view  the  meeting  of  hostile  forces  1  The  armies 
of  Europe  might  manoeuvre  on  the  smooth  prairie  below,  and  not 
a  guide  could  indicate  a  position  without  its  being  manifest  to 
your  eye  long  before  a  battalion  could  attain  it. 

these  ancient  works,  and  their  only  mode  of  explaining  their  existence  is  by 
supposing  that  the  country  was  inhabited,  at  a  period  anterior  to  the  most 
remote  traditions,  by  a  race  of  white  men  similar  to  those  of  European  origin, 
and  that  they  were  cut  off  by  their  forefathers.  'It  is  said  that  tomahawks  of 
brass  and  other  metals,  differing  from  those  in  use  among  the  present  Indians, 
have  been  found  under  the  surface  of  the  ground.' — [A'ea/ino-.]  And  stories 
are  told  of  gigantic  skeletons  being  often  disinterred  in  the  neighborhood. 
Mr.  Brisbois,  who  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  resident  of  Prairie  du  Chien, 
informed  me  that  he  saw  the  skeletons  of  eight  persons  that  were  found  in 
cligging  a  cellar  near  his  house,  lying  side  by  side.  They  were  of  a  gigantic 
size,  measuring  about  eight  feet  from  head  to  foot.  He  added,  that  he  took  a 
leg-bone  of  one  of  them  and  placed  it  by  the  side  of  his  own  leg,  in  order  to 
compare  the  length  of  the  two;  the  bone  of  the  skeleton  extended  six  inches 
above  his  knee.  None  of  these  bones  could  be  preserved,  as  they  crumbled 
to  dust  soon  after  they  were  exposed  to  the  atmosphere." — [Major  Long's  MS. 
us  i]iioted  in  his  Second  Expedition.'\ 

*  See  Fergus'  Historical  Series,  No.   3.      "Origin  of  the  Prairies."     By 
Hon.  John  Dean  Caton,  LL.D.,  late  Chief-Justice  of  Illinois. 


FERGUS'     HISTORICAL     SERIES.     N.j.     2  7. 


T  H  I< 


ILLINOIS  AND  INDIANA  INDIANS 


BY 


HIRAM  W.  BECKWlLll 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINTING   COM  I'  \  N  V. 

ILLINOIS   STRKKT. 

1884. 


luitered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year   1884,  by 

P'krgus  Printing  Company, 
In  the  oftice  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at   Washington. 


J.ETTKR    FROM   'i'H  I'.  Al    TIIOR. 


D.\N\  ii.i.K,  111..,  Nov.  5,  1K83. 

Mv  1)i;ar  Fer(;u.s:— Herewith  is  the  wind-up.  The  Introductory  to  the 
chapter  on  "IIHnois  and  Indiana  Indians",  also  a  foot-note  on  |udge  Hall,  to 
be  put  as  marked.  I  could  find  no  other  jilace  where  I  could  place  it  with 
any  propriety.  It  cost  me  more  time  and  labor  to  chip  it  out  than  any  other 
side-spur  I  have  undertaken.  I  have  one  of  the  very  few  comidete  sets  of  \\i> 
publications  extant,  which  I  have  been  years  in  collecting,  and  they  contain 
"lots  of  good  things."  I  revised  and  condensed  the  note  two  or  three  times 
and  have,  for  brevity's  sake,  squeezed  everything  out  of  it  except  dry  facts. 
Vet  I  hope  that  even  these  may  revive  or  keep  in  memory  the  debt  Illinois 
and  the  West  owe  to  Judge  Hall.  The  statute  of  limitations  has  ran  too  long 
against  him,  John  'SI.  I'eck,  and  a  few  others  who  might  be  named;  while 
semi-annual  dividends  of  praise  have  been  regularly,  often  in  advance,  to 
much  less  deserving  men. 

The  proof-slips  I  return  O.  K.'d  with  corrections  of  my  own  and  the  ailup- 
tion,  with  thanks,  of  those  queried  by  the  proof-reader,  whom  I  take  to  be 
your  father.  I  will  be  obliged  if  you  will  lay  away  the  proof-slips  and  page- 
proofs  for  me  to  have  when  I  come  up,  which  will  be  about  the  2ist  instant, 
when  I  expect  to  remain  two  or  three  days. 

I  hope  the  work  will  now  soon  be  out,  and  that  you  will  get  back  more  than 
your  money  and  labor  on  the  venture.  I  feel  that  the  matter  is  as  reliable 
as  to  facts,  dates,  names,  places,  etc. ,  as  painstaking  research  can  well  make 
it.  Every  statement  has  been  compared  and  verified  with  all  original  authori- 
ties, as  well  as  the  several  collators  upon  the  same  subject  that  I  could  com- 
mand for  reference.  Nothing  has  been  retained  that  would  not  bear  these 
tests;  and,  as  a  sequence,  many  pleasing  fictions  have  been  discarded. 
Should  you  ever  subsoil  in  this  field  of  inquiry,  you  will  be  amazed  at  the 
carelessness  and  the  discrepancies,  the  prejudices,  and  the  pure  fancies  of 
writers  upon  our  aboriginal  history  that  you  will  unearth  on  every  hand,  unlil, 
in  the  course  of  your  investigations,  you  will  come  to  doubt  if  much  true 
history  is  to  be  found  for  your  pains  at  last.  \  ours  truly, 

H.  W.  Bfxkwiiii. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The  account  given  of  the  Indians,  in  the  following  chapters,  i> 
condensed  from  a  volume  prepared  by  the  writer  four  years  a|;o. 
with  some  new  matter  added  in  the  revision.  It  is  mostly  the 
result  of  his  gleanings  over  a  wide  fiald  of  antiquated  books  of 
travel  and  maps  long  since  out  of  print,  or  copies  of  manuscrij)!- 
correspondence  of  a  private  or  official  character,  little  of  which 
is  accessible  to  the  general  reader. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  aboriginal  occupants  of  this  country  is 
fragmentary,  at  best.  They  kept  no  records  and  had  no  histori- 
ans. The  little  we  know  of  them  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings 
of  persons  who,  if  not  their  natural  enemies,  had  little  interest  in 
doing  them  justice.  As  a  rule,  early  travelers  and  observers  have 
alluded  to  their  capabilities,  their  manners  and  customs,  only  in 
an  incidental  way.  We  know  but  very  little  of  the  Indians  who 
formerly  occupied  the  territory  between  the  Alleghanies  and  Mi> 
sissippi;  and  the  little  information  that  has  been  preserved  con 
cerning  them  is  so  scattered  through  the  volumes  of  authors  who 
wrote  from  other  motives,  or  at  different  dates,  or  of  diflercnt 
nations,  without  taking  thought  to  discriminate,  that  no  .salisfat 
tory  account  of  any  particular  tribe  is  now  attainable.  The  i)csl 
that  may  be  done  is  to  select  such  of  these  disjointed  scraps  as 
bear  evidence  of  being  the  most  reliable,  and  arrange  them  in 
something  like  chronolotrical  order.  In  his  endeavor  to  do  this, 
the  writer  has  had  no  theories  to  bolster  up  or  morbid  sentnnenis 
to  gratify.  He  has  only  quoted  or  condensed  from  authorities 
regarded  as  standard;  and  this  without  prejudice  in  favor  of  oi 
against  the  people  whose  history  he  has  attempted  to  briefly  give. 

The  mental  and  physical  training  of  the  two  races,  their  habits 
and  purposes  of  life  were  so  radically  difterent  that  they  couKI 
not  peaceably  occupy  the  same  territory  in  common,  hither  the 
red  hunter  must  quit  the  chase  and  give  up  his  nomadic  life,  or 
the  civilized  white  must  degenerate  into  a  savage.  Hence  the 
Indian,  being  the  weaker  party,  gave  away  before  the  operations 
of  an  inexorable  law,  the  severity  of  which  could,  at  best,  have 
been  only  tempered.  It  was  but  obeying  a  natural  law,  inherent 
in  humanity  everywhere,  that  he  defended  his  country  agamst  tin- 
encroachments  of  another  race;  and  the  strife  between  the  tw.. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

for  its  possession,  furnishes  material  for  many  thrilling  events  con- 
nected with  its  history. 

In  spite  of  whatever  ofticial  injunctions  to  the  contrary,  the 
Indians  were  as  systematically  debauched  with  whisky,  contami- 
nated with  vices,  and  as  persistently  overreached  by  the  servants 
of  Count  Frontenac,  governor  of  New  France,  over  two  centu- 
ries ago,  as  they  have  been,  from  that  time  until  now,  by  the 
agents  and  traders  of  every  successive  executive  in  charge, 
whether  French  or  British,  dictating  at  Quebec  or  New  York,  or 
American,  directing  from  Washington  City.  And  the  complaints 
of  the  early  Jesuit  priests  against  these  wrongs  were  as  unavail- 
ing in  correcting  them  as  the  protests  of  President  Jefferson,  Gov. 
Harrison,  Gen.  Cass,  Judge  Hall,*  and  other  good-minded  men 

*  The  writer  feels  it  a  duty  to  recur  to  tlie  obligation  the  West,  and  partic- 
ularly Illinois,  owes  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Judge  James  Hall,  the  pioneer 
of  our  early  literature,  who  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  Aug.  19,  1793; 
served  in  the  war  of  1812,  on  the  Niagara  frontier;  was  with  Com.  Stephen 
Decatur  in  the  expedition  against  Algiers  in  1815;  resuming  his  law  studies 
at  Pittsburg  in  1818;  and  in  1820,  located  at  Shawneetown,  111.,  and  began 
to  practise.  The  next  year,  he  was  made  States  attorney  for  the  judicial  cir- 
cuit, embracing  some  ten  counties  in  Southeastern  Illinois.  This  section  was 
at  that  time  overrun  with  horse-thieves,  slave-stealers,  counterfeiters,  and  des- 
peradoes, many  of  whom  had  fled  hither  from  other  States  to  escape  punish- 
ment for  their  crimes.  By  their  numbers  and  organized  bold  actions,  they  set 
all  law  at  defiance,  and  terrorized  over  honest  citizens.  Mr.  Hall,  aided  by 
the  law-abiding,  prosecuted  these  criminals  with  such  unrelenting  vigor  that 
he  broke  up  their  gangs,  and  restored  security  to  life  and  property.  In  1S25, 
he  was  elected  judge  of  the  same  circuit — hence  the  prefix  to  his  name.  The 
honor  was  all  the  more  creditable  to  his  abilities  and  moral  worth,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  legislature  (of  1824-5)  conferring  it,  was  largely  "anti- 
convention",  while  he  was  classed  with  the  "convention-party",  as  those  were 
designated  who  had  favored  the  call  of  a  convention  to  so  amend  the  consti- 
tution as  to  convert  Illinois  into  a  slave -state.  [/Vi/t.'  "Ford's  History  ot 
Illinois.  "J  His  term  was  short;  for  the  next  legislative  session  of  1826-7, 
repealed  the  law  creating  the  office  and  turned  out  all  of  the  judges  holding 
commissions  under  it.  Within  the  next  two  or  three  years,  he  removed  to 
Vandalia,  then  the  State  capital,  where  he  early  associated  with  Robt.  Blacic- 
well,  State-printer,  in  publishing  The  Illinois  Intelligencer.  The  legislature 
of  1830-1  elected  him  State  treasurer.  In  the  meantime,  he  and  Mr.  Black- 
well  arranged  to  bring  out  "The  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine",  it  being  the 
first  attempt  at  periodical  literature  in  the  State. 

Judge  Hall's  reputation  as  a  writer  was  already  established.  Beginning  in 
1820,   many  of   his  contributions,   descriptive  of   the  West    and    its    people, 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

in  later  limes.  The  clironic  "Indian  Queslion  i.s  no  nearer  a 
settlement  now  than  it  was  in  colonial  days,  and  it  never  will  be 
until  either  the  unfortimate  subjects  of  it  are  all  dead,  or  we  shall 
have  abandoned  the  prolonged  attempt  to  reconcile  the  indul- 
gences of  a  remorseless  greed  with  the  ways  of  justice  and 
humanity. 

The  remnants  of  tribes,  who  formerly  owned  the  country  east 
of  the  Missouri,  were  sent  beyond  that  river  to  live,  mostly,  by 
hunting  in  competition  with  other  natives  in  regions  where  game 
had  already  become  scarce.     The  lapse  of  time  has  neutralized 

appeared  in  "The  Portfolio",  a  monthly,  conducted  by  his  brother,  John  I:. 
Hall,  at  Philadelphia,  from  which  they  were  copied  by  papers  in  America  and 
England,  and  received  a  wide  circulation.  A  residence,  afterward,  of  several 
years  in  the  country  described,  so  enlarged  his  opportunities  that,  to  a  num- 
ber of  the  original  articles  was  added  much  new  matter,  and  the  whole  was 
published  in  1828  in  London,  England,  in  a  volume  entitled  "Letters  from 
the  West.  Containing  Sketches  of  Scenery,  Manners,  Customs,  and  Anec- 
dotes connected  with  the  First  Settlements  of  the  Western  Sections  of  the 
United  States  ",  etc. 

The  first  number  of  the  "Illinois  Magazine "  appeared  fur  October,  1S30. 
It  run  for  two  years.  'J"he  second  volume  was  published  in  part  at  St.  Louis 
and  part  at  Cincinnati;  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  getting  material  and  labor 
at  Vandalia,  which,  at  that  time,  stood  on  the  verge  of  a  primitive  popula- 
tion, isolated  from  the  literary  world,  and  not  possessing  even  the  conven- 
iences of  country-roads  that  were  passable  for  more  than  a  few  months  during 
the  year.  Commencing  with  January,  1833,  Judge  Hall  resumed  his  i>eriodi- 
cal  at  Cincinnati  under  the  name  of  "The  Western  Monthly  Magazine;  a 
Continuation  of  the  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine",  remaining  with  it  here  for 
three  years.  In  1833,  he  went  to  Cincinnati  and  resided  there  until  his  death. 
July  5,  1868.  Ilis  other  principal  literary  labors  are  as  follows:  "LegcmU 
of  the  West",  1832;  second  edition  the  next  year;  "The  Soldier's  Hridc". 
1S33;  "The  Harp's  Head,  a  Legend  of  Kentucky",  1833;  "Tales  of  the 
Border",  1835;  "Sketches  of  History,  Life,  and  ^Llnners  in  tlie  West",  1835; 
"Statistics  of  the  West",  etc.,  1836.  This  last  was  reissued  in  1838  (from 
the  same  plates,  with  a  few  pages  of  a^^^mi/a  relating  to  steamboat  n 
lion),  under  the  better  title  of  "Notes  on  the  Western  States.  ConU 
Descriptive  Sketches  of  their  Soil,  Climate,  Resources,  and  Scenery";  sub- 
stantially the  same  matter  appeared  in  1848,  under  the  name  of  '^'^The  NNcst; 
its  Commerce  and  Navigation";  "  Romance  of  Western  History",  1857;  re- 
published in  1871,  by  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.,  Cincinnati,  O.,  with  fine  portrait 
of  author;  "The  Wilderness  and  the  War- Path",  1845;  republish^!  in  Lon- 
don in  1846.  The  last  two  run  into  previous  volumes,  embracmg  much  of 
the  same  matter;  while  the  whole  are  largely  made  up  of  papers  drawn  from 


VIU  INTRODUCTION. 

the  bitterness  of  the  conquest  that  ended  with  their  final  removal 
from  our  midst;  so  that  now  we  ought  to  accord  them  the  even- 
handed  justice  to  which  they  are  historically  entitled. 

When  attainable,  the  writer  has  preserved  the  aboriginal  names 
of  lakes,  rivers,  Indian  villages,  and  other  historical  localities 
coming  within  range  of  the  subjects  treated.  In  the  choice  of 
material  he  has  also  endeavored  to  make  such  selections  as  will 
best  serve  the  double  purpose  of  sketches  of  the  several  tribes 
named,  and  illustrate  characteristics  common  to  them  all. 

H.  W.  Beckwith. 

Danville,  III.,  November,    1883. 

"The  Letters  from  the  West",  "The  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine",  and  its 
continuation,  where  many  of  the  originals  may  be  found,  or  the  germs  can  be 
traced  from  which  elaborations  were  subsequently  made.  The  whole,  aside 
from  their  acknowledged  literary  merits,  possess  great  historical  value,  as  they 
present  while  they  preserve  a  faithful  picture  of  the  early  West. 

Besides  the  above,  in  1S36,  he  published  a  life  of  Gov.  Wm.  II.  Harrison, 
which,  for  perspicuity,  fidelity,  and  elegance  of  diction,  is  the  best  of  the 
many  that  have  appeared.  In  1848,  he  prepared  a  "Memoir  of  Thos.  Posey, 
Major-General  and  Governor  of  Indiana",  published  in  "Sparks'  American 
Biographical  Series".  He  also  wrote  the  "History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of 
North  America",  aided  by  Col.  Thomas  L.  McKenney  of  the  Indian  Depart- 
ment; published  1838-44  and  1858,  in  three  large  volumes,  with  120  Indian 
portraits,  taken  mainly  from  the  Indian  Gallery,  formerly  in  the  Department 
of  War  at  Washington.  Judge  Hall  early  became  identified  with  our  State,  and 
aided  its  material  and  intellectual  progress  with  all  the  warmth  of  his  ardent 
nature.  His  pen  was  busy  in  praise  of  its  climate,  its  soil,  and  its  capabili- 
ties; and  prompt  and  trenchent  in  defence  of  the  sterling  traits  of  its  pioneer 
people,  by  whose  successors  he  ought  to  be  remembered.  The  writer  has 
collated  this  note,  mainly  from  the  above  volumes,  in  his  library  with  such 
other  scraps  of  information  as  he  could  gather  elsewhere.  The  biographical 
sketch  in  the  American  Cyclopedia,  to  which  the  writer  is  likewise  indebted, 
is  in  error  as  to  the  date  of  publication  of  the  "Letters  from  the  West",  as 
well,  also,  in  alleging  the  existence  of  a  "  uniform  edition  of  Judge  Hall's 
works";  and  is  defective  in  that  it  omits  his  "  Sketches  of  the  West "  (the  two 
volumes  possessing  more  historical  value  than  any  of  the  others),  and  makes 
no  mention  of  "The  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine"  and  its  continuation,  which, 
with  the  "Letters  from  the  West",  are  measurably  the  fountains  of  them  all. 

His  writings,  except,  perhaps,  "The  Romance  of  Western  History",  and  a 
reprint  of  "The  Legends  of  the  West",  by  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.  of  Cincin- 
nati, in  1 87 1  and  1874,  respectively,  are  long  since  out  of  print.  Many  of 
them  are  quite  rare,  and  appear  only  at  long  intervals  in  the  catalogues  of 
dealers  in  "Americana". 


SOME   ACCOUNT 


OF    THE 


INDIAN    TRIBES 


FORMERLY    I  N  H  A  V,  I T I  N  O 


INDIANA  AND  ILLINOIS. 


Bv  HIRAM  \V.  BECKWITH.  Danmij.i;,  111. 


THH  ILLINOIS  AND  I.\1)L\.\A  L\liiA.\.\ 


THE    ILLINOIS. 


THE  several  Indian  tribes,  whicli  from  time  to  time  occupied 
parts  of  Illinois,  so  far  as  we  have  written  accounts  of  tlu-m, 
were  the  Miamis,  Illinois,  ^Vinnebagos,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Kicka- 
poos,  Pottawatomies,  and,  at  short  intervals,  the  Winnebagocs 
and  Shawnees.  They,  with  the  exception  of  the  AVinnebagoes. 
who  were  of  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  stock,  were  classed  among 
the' Algonquin-Lenape  nations  on  account  of  the  similarity  of 
their  dialects  and  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Irocjuois  tribes  on 
the  east,  the  Choctaws,  Cherokees,  Chickasaws.  and  others  south 
of  the  Ohio  River,  and  the  Dakotas  west  of  the  Mississij^pi.  The 
different  tribes  living  in  Illinois  will  be  referred  to  in  the  order  of 
priority  of  time  in  which  written  accounts  refer  to  their  respective 
names. 

The  Illinois  Indians  were  composed  of  five  subdivisions:  Kas- 
kaskias,  Cahokias,  Tamaroas,  Peorias,  and  Metchigamis,  the  last 
being  a  foreign  tribe  residing  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  who 
being  reduced  to  small  numbers  by  wars  with  tlieir  neiglibors. 
abandoned  their  former  hunting-grounds  and  became  incorporated 
with  the  Illinois.  The  first  historical  mention  of  this  trilie  is 
found  in  the  "Jesuit  Relations  for  the  year  1670-1,"  prepared  by 
Father  Claude  Dablon,  from  the  letters  of  priests  stationed  at 
LaPointe  on  the  southwest  of  Lake  Superior.+     At  this  jilace. 

*  A  more  detailed  account  of  these  tribes,  togellier  willi  a  narration  of  their 
manners,  customs,  and  implements  (illustrated)  will  be  found  in  IJeckwithV 
"  Historic  Notes  on  the  Northwest. " 

+  "  ThepoinV'  of  land  extending  out  into  Lake  Superior  and  hey-nd  which 
are  the  Apostle  Islands,  so  named  by  the  early  Jesuits,  because  there  are  or 
were  twelve  of  them  in  number.  The  construction  of  the  mission  chain:!  of 
the  "Holy  Ghost"  was  begun  at  the  Pointe  by  Father  Claudius  Alloue/  m 
1665;  and  the  place  was  afterward  known  by  the  Jesuits  as  "  I.apomt  du  Saint 


lOO  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

prior  to  1670,  the  French  had  a  trading-post,  to  which  the  Indians 
came  for  many  miles,  to  barter  their  peltries  for  knives,  hatchets, 
kettles,  guns,  ammunition,  clothes,  ])aints,  trinkets,  and  other 
articles  of  European  manufacture;  and  as  the  Indians  that  first 
came  to  LaPointe  from  the  south  called  themselves  Illinois,  the 
French  called  them  ever  afterward  by  this  name.  Father  Dablon 
states  in  the  "Relations  for  the  year  1670":  "As  we  have  given 
the  name  of  Ottawas  to  all  the  savages  of  these  countries,  although 
of  different  nations,  because  the  first  who  have  appeared  among 
the  French  were  Ottawas,  so  also  it  is  with  the  name  Illinois, 
very  numerous,  and  dwelling  toward  the  south,  because  the  first 
who  came  to  the  Pointe  of  the  Holy  Ghost  for  commerce,  called 
themselves  Illinois."  In  the  Jesuit  Relations  and  in  the  writings 
of  other  French  authors,  the  name  Illinois  is  variously  spelled  as 
"lUi-mouek",  "Ill-i-no-u-es",  "Ill-i-ne-wek",  "AUini-wek",  and  "Lin- 
i-wek".  The  terminations  oues^  wek,  ois,  and  oi/ck  were  almost 
identical  in  pronunciation.  Lewis  Evans,  the  great  geographer  in 
colonial  days,  Spelled  the  name  Will-i-nis.  Major  Thomas  For- 
syth, for  many  years  trader  and  Indian-agent  in  the  Illinois  Terri- 
tory, and  stationed  at  the  then  French  village  of  Peoria,  says  the 
"Illinois  confederation  call  themselves  Linni-wek,  and  by  others 
they  were  called  Min-ne-way."  Father  James  Marquette,  who, 
with  Louis  Joliet,  came  up  the  Illinois  River  in  1673,  and  Father 
Louis  Hennepin,  who  descended  the  same  stream  in  1679,  and 
both  coming  in  direct  contact  with  the  natives  dwelling  upon  the 
borders  of  its  waters,  giving  them  opportunities  of  knowing  where- 
of they  wrote,  in  their  journals  of  their  respective  voyages  spell 
the  name  Illinois.*  Father  Marquette,  as  well  as  Father  Henne- 
pin, give  in  their  journals  the  signification  that  the  Illinois  Indians 
gave  to  their  name.  The  former  in  his  narrative  journal  observes: 
"To  say  Illinois  is,  in  their  language,  to  say  'the  men',  as  if  other 
Indians  compared  to  them  were  mere  beasts."  "The  word  Illi- 
nois," says  Father  Hennepin,  "signifies  a  man  of  full  age  in  the 
vigor  of  his  strength.  Tliis  word  Illinois  comes,  as  has  already 
been   observed,    from   lUini,   which  in   that   language  signifies  a 

Esprit"  [the  point  of  the  Holy  Ghost].  By  the  Algonquin  tribes  and  the 
ungodly  fur-tradeis,  who  seriously  interfered  with  the  good  father's  mission 
work,  the  locality  was  called  "  Che-goi-me-gon",  or  [the  place  of]  "  T/ie  Sandy 
Point",  which,  as  is  usual  with  aboriginal  names,  is  highly  descriptive,  and 
characterizes  its  physical  features  in  contrast  with  prevailing  rugged  shores  of 
Lake  Superior.  Upon  this  tongue  of  land,  in  modern  atlases,  is  shown  the 
City  of  Bayfield,  county-seat  of  Bayfield  County,  Wisconsin. 
*  Pronounced  Ill-i-noi,  the  terminal  s  being  silent. 


THE   1  I.I.I  XOIS.  101 

perfect  and  accomplished  man."  Originally  the  word  Illiiicwck,  or 
Linnewek,  had  only  a  general  meaning,  and  was  a  word  used  buast- 
ingly  by  other  tribes  of  the  great  Algonquin  family  when  spcakiuj; 
of  themselves.  The  Delawares,  considered  the  oldest  branch  oJ 
this  family,  called  themselves  "  T.enno-Lenape',  which,"  savs 
Albert  (iallatin,  in  his  synojjsis  of  Indians  tribes  of  Norih 
America,  "means  original  or  'unmi.\ed  men';  perhaps,  originally, 
'manly  men '."  In  the  Delaware  language  Laiiio  means  a  man  and 
Nape  means  a  male.  Again,  the  tribes  that  occupied  the  country 
about  the  southern  extremity  of  Hudson  l!ay,  and  who  bclimgetl 
to  this  same  tamily  of  aboriginals,  says  Dr.  Robertson:  "call 
themselves,  as  many  other  Indian  tribes  do,  'men',  ' E-if/iin-yook\ 
or  'In-ir-i-wrik',  prefixing  occasionally  the  name  of  their  especial 
tribes.  Thus  the  true  name  of  the  'IVIon-so-nies'  or  Swamp 
Indians  who  inhabited  Moose  River  is  'Mon-so-a-Eith-yu-yook', 
or  'Moose-deer-men'."  Later,  and,  as  it  were,  by  the  uniform 
concurrence  of  nearly  all  writers,  when  referring  to  the  original 
occupants  of  this  country,  the  name  Ill-i-mouek,  lU-i-ne-wek,  Lcn- 
i-wek,  and  Ill-i-ni  was  applied  only  to  the  Illinois  Confederation. 

From  the  earliest  accounts  we  have,  the  principal  stream  ol 
this  State  was  called  "The  River  of  the  Illinois";  and  a  wide 
region  of  comitry,  lying  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  and  upon 
both  sides  of  the  Mississippi,  was  called  "The  Country  of  the 
Ilhnois",  and  "The  Illinois".  Tl^pse  designations  ai)pear  in  the 
records  and  official  letters  under  the  administrations  and  owner- 
ship of  this  region  under  both  the  P^rench  and  S|)anish  C.overn- 
ments.  For  example,  letters,  deeds,  and  other  ofticial  documcnls 
bore  date  at  "Kaskaskiaof  the  lUinois"',  "St.  Louis  of  the  Illi- 
nois", "Chicago  of  the  Illinois",  "Vincennes  of  the  Ilhnois",  etc. 

While  the  Revolutionary  war  was  in  progress,  C.en.  Ceo.  Rogers 
Clark  of  Virginia  (though  a  resident  of  Kentucky,  which  was 
then  a  county  of  that  colony)  wrested  the  territory,  now  em- 
braced within  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois.  Michigan,  and 
^^^isconsin,  from  the  British  Government.  Afterward  and  in  the 
spring  of  1779,  Col  John  Todd,  commissioned  by  \  irgmia  as  its 
Heutenant,  went  to  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia  and  organized  ( .en. 
Clark's  con(iuest  into  a  county  of  \'irginia,  to  which  was  gnen 
the  name  of  "Illinois  County".  Later  this  domain  became  ihc 
property,  by  cession  of  the  several  states  claiming  interest,  oi 
the  United  States.  On  the  4th  of  July.  180.,  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress for  the  division  of  the  Northwest  Territory  went  into  etleii, 
bv  the  terms  of  which  all  that  part  lying  to  the  westward  ot  nc 
west  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  Ohio  was  con-.iiuited  a  sep.v 
rate  territory,  under  name  of  "Indiana  Territory  ,  and  so  reinaiiaU 


102  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

until  when  by  Act  of  Congress,  February  3,  1S09,  all  that  part 
of  it  lying  west  of  the  Wabash  River,  and  a  line  drawn  due  north 
from  Vincennes  to  the  British  possessions,  was  organized  into  a 
separate  territory,  to  be  called  the  "Illinois  Territory".  Still  later, 
October  5,  1818,  was  passed  an  Act  for  the  admission  of  the 
lUinois  Territory  as  a  state  into  the  Federal  Union,  to  be  desig- 
nated as  the  "State  of  Illinois".  Such,  agreeably  to  approved 
authorities,  is  the  origin  of  the  word  Illinois;  and  such  are  the 
various  uses  it  has  served.  A  great  State  perpetuates  the  name, 
in  memory  of  a  populous  and  powerful  race  of  redmen,  once 
living  in  its  borders,  but  now  utterly  perished  from  the  earth. 

From  all  accounts,  it  seems  the  Illinois  Confederation  claimed 
the  extensive  county  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  ridge  that  divides 
the  waters  flowing  into  the  Illinois  from  the  streams  that  drain 
into  the  Wabash,  between  the  headwaters  of  Saline  Creek  and  a 
point  as  far  north  on  the  Illinois  as  the  Desplaines,  reaching  still 
northward  to  the  debatable  ground  between  themselves,  the  Win- 
nebagoes,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  the  Kickapoos;  and  extending 
westward  of  the  Mississi])pi.  Their  favorite  and  most  populous 
villages  were  upon  the  Illinois  and  its  two  principal  branches,  the 
Desplaines  and  the  Kankakee. 

The  area  of  the  original  country  of  the  Illinois  was  soon  reduced 
by  continuous  wars  with  their  neighbors.  The  Sioux  (Da-ko-ta) 
pressed  them  from  the  west;  ^le  Sacs  and  Foxes  and  Kickapoos, 
confederates,  encroached  upon  their  territory  from  the  north; 
while  war  parties  of  the  fierce  Iroquois,  coming  from  the  ea^t, 
rapidly  decimated  their  numbers.  These  destructive  influences 
were  doing  their  fatal  work,  and  the  power  of  the  Illinois  was 
waning  w'hen  they  first  came  in  contact  with  the  French.  Their 
sufferings  rendered  them  pliable  to  the  voice  of  the  missionary; 
and,  in  their  weakness,  the}'  hailed  with  deliglii  the  coming  of  the 
Frenchmen,  with  his  promise  of  protection  assured  with  gifts  of 
guns  and  powder.  The  Illinois  drew  so  kindly  to  the  priests,  the 
coureurs  des  bois,  and  soldiers  that  the  friendship  between  the  two 
races  never  abated;  and  when,  in  the  order  of  events,  the  sons  ot 
France  had  departed  from  Illinois,  the  love  of  the  natives  for  the 
departed  Gaul  was  handed  down  as  a  precious  memory  to  their 
children. 

The  military  establishments  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  at  Starved 
Rock,  111.,-''  for  a  while  checked  the  incursions  of  the  Iroquois 

*  Under  his  letters  patent,  granted  by  the  king  of  France  to  the  seigniory 
of  "The  Country  of  the  Illinois,"  LaSalle  [so  called  after  the  name  of  the 
landed  estate,  near  Rouen,  France,  belonging  to  his  family,  but  whose  primal 


THE   ILLINOIS. 


"'>3 


and  stayed  the  calamity  that  was  to  betall  tlic  llHnoi>.  W  c  ^ivc 
a  condensed  account  of  some  of  tliese  campaigns  of  the  Iroijuois 
into  the  lUinois  country,  as  embraced  in  extracts  which  are 
taken  from  a  Memoir  on  Western  Indians,  by  M.  DiiChesneaii, 
Intendent  of  Canada,  and  successor  to  Jean  'lallon,  dated  at 
Quebec,  September  13,  1681:  "To  convey  a  correct  idea,"  says 
this  French  officer,  "of  the  present  state  of  all  those  Indian 
nations  it  is  necessary  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  cruel  war  waged 
by  the  Iroquois  for  these  three  years  past  against  the  Illinois. 
The  former  are  great  warriors,  can  not  remain  idle,  and  jjretend 
to  subject  all  other  nations  to  themselves,  and  never  want  a  ])rc- 
text  for  commencing  hostilities.  The  following  is  their  assumed 
excuse  for  the  present  war:  going  about  twent)-  years  ago  to 
attack  the  Foxes,  they  met  the  Illinois,  and  killed  a  considerable 
number  of  them.  This  continued  during  the  succeeding  years, 
and  finally  having  destroyed  a  great  many,  they  forced  them  to 
abandon  their  country  and  seek  refuge  in  very  distant  parts.  The 
Iroquois,  having  got  rid  of  the  Illinois,  took  no  more  trouble  with 
them,  but  went  to  war  against  another  nation  called  the  'An-dos- 
tagues,'  [the  Fries  or  Cats,  so-called,  and  who  were  entirely  des- 
troyed by  the  Iroquois].  Pending  this  war,  the  Illinois  returned 
to  their  country,  and  the  Iroquois  complained  that  they  had  killed 
forty  of  their  people  while  on  their  way  to  hunt  beaver  in  the 
Illinois  country.  To  obtain  satisfaction,  the  Iroquois  resolved 
to  make  war  upon  them.  Their  true  motive,  however,  was  to 
gratify  the  British  at  'Ma-nat-te'  [New  York]  and  "Orange" 
[Albany],  of  whom  they  are  too  near  neighbors,  and  who,  by 
means  of  presents,  engaged  the  Iroquois  in  this  expedition,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  force  the  Illinois  to  bring  their  beaver  to 
them,  so  that  they  may  go  and  trade  it  afterward  to  the  British; 
also  to  intimidate  the  other  Indians,  and  constrain  them  to  do  the 
same  thine:. 


'&• 


name  was  Rene— Robert  Cavelire]  erected  a  fort  and  trading-post  on  the 
eminence  of  this  rocky  height,  situated  on  the  south  side  of,  and  overlooking, 
the  Illinois  River,  some  eight  miles  below  Ottawa.  The  fort  was callctl  "Iron 
St.  Louis",  in  honor  of  his  patron  Lonis  11',  and  the  place  U  A'.- 'ler  [the 
Rock].  The  now  generally  received  name  of  "  .Starved  Rock  "  is  derived  from 
an  alleged  starving  to  death  of  a  party  of  Indians  corraled  there  l-y  a  remorse- 
less enemy  of  besiegers.  The  occurrence  is  without  authority  to  support  it. 
other  than  several  vague  (though  charming)  traditions  drawn  from  the  "won- 
der-stories "  of  as  many  different  tribes.  One  of  the  most  intereslmg  of  these. 
both  in  matter  and  the  manner  of  treating  it,  is  preserved  in  a  paper  on  "  he 
Last  of  the  Illinois,"  from  the  able  pen  of  Hon.  Judge  Caton,  ..nd  pubhshe.1 
in  Number  Three  of  Fercus'  Historical  Series. 


I04  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

"The  improper  conduct  of  Sieiir  de  LaSalle,  governor  of  Ft. 
Frontenac,  has  contributed  considerably  to  cause  the  latter  to 
adopt  this  proceeding;  for  after  he  had  obtained  permission  to 
discover  the  great  river  Mississippi,  and  had,  as  he  alleged,  the 
grant  of  the  [country  of  the]  Illinois,  he  no  longer  observed  any 
terms  with  the  Iroquois,  and  avowed  that  he  would  convey  arms 
and  ammunition  to  the  Illinois,  and  would  die  assisting  them." 
We  break  the  thread  of  Chesneau's  official  letter  to  say  to  the 
reader  that  it  must  be  remembered  that  FaSalle  was  not  exempt 
from  the  attacks  of  that  jealousy  and  envy  which  is  inspired  in 
the  souls  of  little  men  toward  those  who  plan  and  execute  great 
undertakings.  We  see  this  spirit  manifested  in  this  letter.  La 
Salle  could  not  have  done  otherwise  than  supply  fire-arms  to  the 
Illinois  Indians;  they  were  his  friends  and  the  owners  of  the 
country,  the  trade  of  which  he  had  opened  up  at  great  hardship 
and  expense  to  himself 

Proceeding  with  Chesneau's  letter:  "The  Iroquois  despatched 
in  the  month  of  April,  of  last  year,  an  army  consisting  of  between 
five  and  six  hundred  men,  who  approached  an  Illinois  village 
[near  the  present  site  of  Utica,  LaSalle  Co.,  111.],  where  Sieur 
Henry  de  Tonty,  LaSalle's  principal  officer,  happened  to  be  with 
some  Frenchmen  and  two  Recollect  Fathers  [the  catholic  priests. 
Fathers  Gabriel  Ribourde  and  Zenobe  Membre,  whom  the  Iro- 
quois left  unharmed].  One  of  these,  a  most  holy  man  [Father 
Ribourde]  has  since  been  killed  by  the  Indians.  But  they  would 
listen  to  no  terms  of  peace  proposed  to  them  by  Tonty,  who  was 
slightly  wounded  at  the  beginning  of  the  attack;  the  Illinois, 
having  fled  a  hundred  leagues,  were  pursued  by  the  Iroquois,  who 
killed  and  captured  as  many  as  twelve  hundred  of  them,  includ- 
ing women  and  children,  having  lost  only  thirty  men.*  The  victory 
achieved  by  the  Iroquois  rendered  them  so  insolent  that  they 
have  continued  ever  since  that  time  to  send  out  divers  war  parties. 
The  success  of  the  last  is  not  yet  known,  but  it  is  not  doubted 
they  have  been  successful,  because  they  are  very  warlike,  while 
the  Illinois  are  but  indiff"erently  so.  Indeed,  there  is  no  doubt, 
and  it  is  the  universal  opinion,  that  if  the  Iroquois  are  allowed  to 
proceed,  they  will  subdue  the  Illinois,  and  in  a  short  time  render 
themselves  masters  of  all  the  Ottawa  tribes,  and  direct  the  trade 
to  the  British,  so  that  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  make  them  our 
friends  or  to  destroy  them." 

The  building  of  Fort  St.  Louis  upon  the  heights  of  Starved 
Rock  by  LaSalle,  in   16S2,  gave  confidence  to  the  Illinois  and 

*  In  this  foray,  the  Iroquois  drove  the  fugitive  Illinois  beyond  the  Mississippi. 


THE    ILLINUIS.  IO5 

their  scattered  remnants  who  had  again  returned  to  their  favorite 
viUage.  They  were  followed  by  bands  of  W'cas,  i'i-an-kcslias, 
and  Mi-am-ies,  near  kinsmen  of  the  Illinois,  and  by  the  Shaw- 
nees  and  other  tribes  of  remoter  affinity;  and  soon'a  cordon  of 
populous  towns  arose  about  the  fort.  The  military  forces  of 
these  villages  at  the  colony  of  LaSalle,  in  1684,  was  estimated 
at  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  fighting  men,  the  Illinois 
furnishing  more  than  one-third  of  this  numl)er.  Thus  were  the 
Iroquois  barred  out  of  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  who,  for  a  season, 
enjoyed  a  respite  from  their  old  enemies.  The  abandonment  of 
Fort  St.  Louis  as  a  military  post,  in  1702,  was  followed  by  a  dis- 
persion of  the  tribes  and  fragments  of  tribes,  except  at  the  Illinois 
village,  where  a  straggling  population  retained  possession.  The 
Kaskaskias  learning,  in  the  year  1700,  that  France  was  making  a 
military  establishment  and  colony  near  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, started  thither.  They  were  intercepted  on  the  way,  and 
persuaded  to  halt  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  soon  there- 
after made  themselves  a  permanent  home  on  the  banks  of  a  stream 
which  since  then  has  borne  their  name,  the  Kaskaskia. 

The  Iroquois  came  no  more,  having  war  enough  on  their  hands 
nearer  home;  but  the  Illi|iois  were  constantly  harrassed  by  other 
enemies,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  the  Kickapoos,  and  the  Poltawato- 
mies.  Their* villages  at  Starved  Rock  and  at  Peoria  Lake  were 
besieged  by  the  Foxes  in  1722,  and  a  detachment  of  a  hundred 
men,  commanded  by  Chevalier  de  Artaguiette  and  Sieur  de  Tisne, 
was  sent  from  Fort  Chartres  to  their  assistance.  The  Foxes  hav- 
ing lost  more  than  a  hundred  of  their  men,  abandoned  the  siege 
before  the  reinforcements  arrived.  "This  success  [says  Charle- 
voix, the  great  French  historian]  did  not,  however,  i>revent  the 
Illinois,  although  they  had  lost  only  twenty  men,  with  some 
women  and  children,  from  leaving  the  Rock  and  Pim-i-toey 
[Peoria  Lake]  where  they  were  kept  in  constant  alarm,  and  to 
proceeding  to  unite  with  those  of  their  brethren  [the  Kaskaskias] 
who  had  ^settled  upon  the  Mississippi.  This  was  a  stroke  of 
grace  for  most  of  them,  the  small  number  of  missionaries  prevent- 
ing their  supplying  so  many  towns  scattered  far  ai)art;  but.  on 
the  other  side,  as  there  was  nothing  to  check  ihe  raids  of  the 
Foxes  along  the  Illinois  River,  communication  between  Louisiana 
and  New  France  [Canada]  became  much  less  practicable. 

The  next  fifteen  vears  show  a  further  decline  in  their  numbers. 
In  an  enumeration  of  the  Indian  tribes  connected  with  the  t.ov- 
ernment  of  Canada,  prepared  in  the  year  1736,  the  name,  loca- 
tion, and  number  of  fighting-men  of  the  Illinois  are  set  down  as 
follows:     "Mitchigamias,  near  Fort  Chartres,  two  hundred  and 


I06  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

fifty ;    Kaskaskies,   six   leagues    below,    one   hundred ;    Peorias, 
and    the    Rock,    fifty;    the    Cahokias  and    Tamarois,    two    hun- 
dred;"   making   a   total   of  six    hundred   warriors.      The   killing 
of  Pontiac,   some  thirty  years  later,  at  Cahokia,  whither  he  hadj 
retired  after  the  failure  of  his  bold  efforts  to  rescue  the  country 
from   the    British,   was   laid   upon   the   Illinois,    a   charge   which,! 
whether  true  or  false,  hastened  their  destruction.     In  an  ofiicialj 
letter  to  the  secretary  of  war,  of  date  March  22,  1814,  Gen.  Wm. 
H.  Harrison  says,  "When  I  was  first  appointed  governor  of  the) 
Indiana  Territory  [May,  1800],  these  once  powerful  tribes  were] 
reduced  to  about  tliirty  warriors,  of  whom  twenty-five  were  Kas- 
kaskias,  four  Peorias,  and  a  single  Mitchigamian.     A  furious  warl 
between  them  and  the  Sacs  and  Kickapoos  reduced  them  to  that] 
miserable  remnant  which  had  taken  refuge  among  the  white  peo^ 
pie  in  the  towns  of  Kaskaskia  and  St.  Genieve."     Since  1800,  bj 
successive  treaties,  they  ceded  their  lands  to  the  United  States,] 
and   were   removed   to  reservations,   lying   southwest  of  Kansas] 
City,  where,  in  1872,  they  had  dwindled  to  forty  persons — men,[ 
women,  and  children,  all  told. 

Thus   have  wasted  away  the  original   occupants  of  the  larger! 
l)art  of  Illinois,  and   portions  of  low^  and   Missouri.      In  theirj 
single  village  near  Starved  Rock,  says  Father  Membre,  who  was 
there  in  1680,  "there  were  seven  or  eight  thousand  souls;"  and,] 
in  1684,  their  warriors  were  set  down  at  twelve  hundred.      In  thel 
days  of  their  power,  they  nearly  exterminated  the  Win-ne-ba-goes.[ 
Their  war-parties  penetrated  the  towns  of   the  Iroquois  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Mohawk  and  the  Genesee.     They  took  the  Mitchi-j 
gamies  under  their  protection,  giving  them  security  against  enej 
mies  with  whom   they  were  unable   to  contend.     They  assistec 
the  French  in  their  wars  against  the  Cherokees  and  the  Chicka-! 
saws;  and. in  the  bitter  struggle  between  the  American  colonies 
and  the  mother  country  on  the  one  side,  and  Canada  and  France 
on  the  other,  the  Illinois  tribes  gave  bountifully  of  their  braves,| 
who  fought  heroicly  and  to  the  last  in  the  loosing  cause  of  their 
Father  0-ni-to  [the  king],  across  the  great  water. 

This  people  who  had  dominated  over  surrounding  tribes,  claim-! 
ing  for  themselves  the  name  of  Illini  or  Linneway,  to  distinguish! 
their  superior  manhood,  have  disappeared  from  the  earth;  another 
race,  representing  a  higher  civilization,  occupy  their  former  do-i 
mains;  and,  already,  even  the  origin  of  their  name  and  the  places 
of  their  villages  have  become  the  subjects  of  antiquarian  research. 


to 


THE    MI  AM  IS. 


THE    MI  AM  IS. 


107 


THE  people  known  to  u.s  as  the  Miamis  formerly  lived  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  Their  migration  from  thence  eastward 
through  Wisconsin,  Northern  Illinois,  around  the  southern  hcnd 
of  Lake  Michigan  to  Detroit,  thence  up  the  Mauniee,  and  down 
the  Wabash,  and  eastward  through  Indiana  into  Ohio,  as  far  as 
the  Great  Miami,  can  be  followed  through  the  writings  of  ofti(  ers. 
missionaries,  and  travelers  connected  with  the  Freiit:ii.  Referring 
to  the  mixed  village  of  Mascoutins  and  others  upon  Fo.\  River, 
near  its  mouth,  in  Wisconsin,  Father  Claude  Dabloii,  who  was 
there  in  1670,  says  the  village  "is  joined  in  the  circle  of  the  same 
barriers  of  another  people  named  Ou-mi-a-mi,  which  is  one  of  the 
Illinois  nations,  which  is,  as  it  were,  dismembered  from  the  others, 
in  order  to  dwell  in  these  quarters.",  "It  is  beyond  this  great 
river  [the  Mississippi,  of  which  the  father  had  been  speaking  in 
the  paragraph  preceding  that  quoted]  that  are  j^laced  the  Illinois 
of  whom  we  speak,  and  from  whom  are  detached  those  who  dwell 
here  with  the  Five  Nations  [Mascoutins,  or  Kickapoos]  t«i  fi)rn) 
here  a  transplanted  colony." 

From  these  quotations,  there  remains  little  doubt  but  that  the 
Miamis  were  a  branch  of  the  great  Ill-i-ni.  This  theory  is  not 
only  declared  by  all  French  authorities,  but  is  sustained  by  many 
British  and  American  writers,  among  the  latter  of  whom  may  be 
named  Gen.  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  whose  long  actjuaintance  and 
official  relations  with  the  Northwestern  Indians,  especially  the  .sev- 
eral sub-divisions  of  the  Miami  and  Illinois  tribes,  gave  him 
opportunities  of  which  he  availed  himself  to  acquire  an  intimate 
knowledge  concerning  them.  He  says,  "Although  the  language. 
manners^  and  customs  of  the  Kaskaskias  make  it  sufficiently  cer- 
tain that  they  derive  their  origin  from  the  same  source  with  the 
Miamis;  the  connection  had  been  dissolved  before  the  Freiirii 
had  penetrated  from  Canada  to  the  Mississippi."  This  as.sertion 
of  Gen.  Harrison  that  the  tribal  relations  between  the  Illinois  and 
Miamis  had  been  broken  ])rior  to  the  exploration  of  the  Mi--i~ 
sippi  Valley  is  sustained  with  great  unanimity  by  all  other  auth-i: 
ties,  and  is  illustrated  in  the  long  and  disastrous  wars  waged  upon 
the  Illinois  by  the  Iroquois,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Kickapoos,  and  other 
enemies,  in  which  there  is  no  instance  given  where  the  Miamis 
ever  offered  assistance  to  their  ancient  kinsmen ;  on  the  contnirv. 
they  often  lifted  the  bloodv  hatchet  against  them. 

The  Miami  confederation  was  subdivided  into  tour  i-nn-  11  u 
bands,  since  known  under  the  name  of  Miainis,  heI-Ki\er>.  We.is. 


lOS  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

and  Piankeshaws.  French  writers,  and  some  of  the  colonial 
traders,  have  given  names  of  two  or  three  other  subdivisions  ot 
the  bands  named;  their  identity,  however,  can  not  be  clearly 
traced,  and  they  figure  so  little  in  the  accounts  which  we  have  of 
the  Miamis  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  specify  their  obsolete  names. 
The  ^liamis,  proper,  have  by  different  writers  been  called  "Ou- 
mi-a-mi",  "Ou-mi-am-wek",  "Mau-mees",  "Au-mi-am-i'  (which 
has  been  contracted  to  Au-mi  and  to  "0-mee"),  and  "Min-e- 
am-i".  The  Weas,  whose  name  more  properly  is  "We-we-hah", 
is  called  "Sy-a-ta-nous",  "Oui-at-a-n'ons"',  and  "Ou-i-as"  by  the 
French,  and  in  whose  orthography  the  "8y"  and  "Ou"  are  equiv- 
alent in  sound  nearly  to  the  letter  of  the  English  W.  The  British 
and  colonial  otiicers  and  traders  spelled  the  word  "Oui-ca-ta-non' , 
"  Way-ough-ta-nies",  "  Waw  i-ach-tens"',  and  "We-hahs".  The 
name  Piankeshaws,  in  early  accounts,  figure  as  "Pou-an-ke-ki-as", 
"Pe-an-gui-chias",  "Pi-angui-shaws",  "Py-an-ke-shaws",  and  "Pi- 
an-qui-shaws".  The  Miami  tribes  were  known  to  the  Iroquois  of 
New  York  as  the  Twigh-twees,  a  name  generally  used  by  the 
British  as  well  as  by  the  American  colonists  when  referring  to  any 
of  the  Miami  tribes. 

In  tlie  year  1684,  at  LaSalle's  Colony,  at  Starved  Rock,  the 
Miamis  had  populous  villages,  where  the  Miamis,  proper,  counted 
thirteen  hundred  warriors,  the  Weas  five  hundred,  and  the  Pian- 
keshaw  band  one.  Inmdred  and  fifty.  At  a  later  day,  17 18,  the 
Weas  had  a  village  "at  Chicago,  but,  being  afraid  of  the  canoe- 
people  [the  Chippeways  and  Pottawatomies],  left  it,  and  passing 
around  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  to  be  nearer  their  brethren 
farther  to  the  east."  Father  Charlevoix,  writing  from  this  vicinity, 
in  I  72 1,  says:  "P'ifty  years  ago,  the  Miamis  [/.  c.  the  Wea  band] 
were  settled  on  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  in  a 
'"place  called  Chicago^  from  the  name  of  a  small  river  which  runs 
into  the  lake,  the  source  of  which  is  not  far  distant  from  that  of 
the  river  of  the  Illinois  [meaning  the  Desplaines,  which  is  the 
name  by  which  it  was  often  called  in  French  authorities].  They 
are  at  present  divided  into  three  villages,  one  of  which  stands  on 
River  St.  Joseph,  the  second  on  another  river  [the  Maumee]  which 
bears  their  name  and  runs  into  Lake  Erie,  and  a  third  upon  the 
River  Ouabache,  which  empties  its  waters  into  the  Mississippi. 
The  last  are  better  known  by  the  appellation  of  (3uyatanons."  In 
1694,  the  governor  of  New  France,  in  a  conference  with  the 
Western  Indians,  requested  the  Miamis  of  the  Pe-pe-ko-kia  band 
who  resided  upon  the  Maramek  [Kalamazoo  River,  in  Michigan] 
to  remove  and  join  their  tribe  located  on  the  St.  Josejjh  of  Lake 
Michigan ;  the  governor  giving  it  as  his  reason  that  he  wished  the 


THE    MIAMIS. 


10«; 


several  Miami  bands  to  unite,  "so  as  to  be  able  to  execute  with 
greater  facility  the  commands  which  he  might  issue."  At  that 
time  the  Iroquois  were  making  war  upon  Canada,  aud  the  l-"renili 
w  ere  trying  to  induce  the  western  tribes  to  take  uj)  the  tomahawk 
ill  their  behalf.  The  Miamis  promised  to  comply  with  the  gov- 
ernor's wishes;  and  "late  in  August,  1696,  they  started  to  join 
their  brethren  on  the  St.  Joseph.  On  their  way  they  were  attackeil 
by  the  Sioux,  and  lost  several  men.  The  Miamis  of  the  St.  Joseph 
learning  this  hostility,  resolved  to  avenge  their  slaughter.  'l"hev 
pursued  the  Sioux  to  their  owii  country,  and  found  them  entrenched 
in  a  fort  with  some  Frenchmen  of  the  class  known  as  courcurs  dcs 
hois  [bush-lopers.]  They  nevertheless  attacked  them  rei)eatedly. 
but  were  repulsed  and  were  compelled  to  retire  after  losing  several 
of  their  braves.  On  their  way  home,  meeting  other  Frenchmen 
carrying  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  Sioux,  they  seized  all  they 
had,  but  did  them  no  harm." 

The  Miamis  were  greatly  enraged  with  the  French  for  sup])ly- 
ing  the  Sioux  with  fire-arms.  It  took  all  the  address  of  (iov. 
Frontenac  to  persuade  them  from  joining  the  lro<|Uois.  Indeed, 
they  seized  Nicolas  Perrot,  the  French  trader,  who  had  been  com- 
missioned to  lead  the  Maramek  band  to  the  River  St.  Joseph,  and 
would  have  burned  him  alive  had  it  not  been  for  the  intercession 
of  the  Foxes  in  his  behalf  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  aliena- 
tion of  kindly  feeling  of  the  Miamis  to\^rd  the  French,  which 
was  never  restored;  and  from  this  period,  the  movements  of  the 
tribe  were  observed  by  the  French  with  jealous  susjMcion. 

The  country  of  the  Miamis  extended  west  to  the  watershed 
between  the  Illinois  and  Wabash  Rivers,  which  separated  liieir 
possessions  from  those  of  their  brethren,  the  Illinois.  On  the 
north  were  the  Pottawatomies,  who  were  slowly  but  persistently 
pushing  their  line  southward  through  Wisconsin  and  around  the 
west  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  as  we  shall  see  when  coming  to 
treat  of  them  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Unlike  the  Illinois,  the  Miamis  held  their  own  until  1. laced  on 
an  equal  footing  with  tribes  eastward  of  them,  by  obtaining  pos- 
session of  fire-arras.  Their  superior  numbers  and  bra\-er\-  enabled 
them  to  extend  the  limits  of  their  hunting-grounds  eastward  into 
Ohio,  far  within  the  territory  claimed  by  the  Iroquois;  and  says 
Gov.  Harrison,  they  "were  the  undoubted  proprietors  of  all  tiia 
beautiful  country  watered  by  the  Wabash  and  its  trilnitaries,  and 
there  remains  as  litde  doubt  that  their  clami  extended  as  lar  casi 
as  the  Scioto."  With  implements  of  civilized  warfare  in  their 
hands,  they  maintained  their  tribal  integrity  and  '"dei-endencc. 
and  they  traded  with  and  fought  against  the  1-rench.  l.ntish.  ana 


no  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

Americans  by  turns,  as  their  interests  or  passions  inclined;  and 
made  peace  with  or  declared  war  against  other  nations  of  their 
own  race  as  policy  or  caprice  moved  them.  More  than  once  they 
compelled  the  arrogant  Iroquois  to  beg  from  the  governors  of  the 
American  colonies  that  protection  which  they  themselves  had 
failed  to  secure  by  their  own  prowess.  Bold,  independent,  and 
flushed  with  success,  the  Miamis  afforded  a  poor  field  for  mission- 
ary work,  and  the  Jesuit  Relations  and  pastoral  letters  of  the 
French  priesthood  have  less  to  say  of  the  Miamis  than  of  any 
other  westward  tribe,  the  Kickapoos  alone  excepted.  Referring 
to  their  military  powers.  Gen.  Harrison  says  of  them  that,  "saving 
the  ten  years  preceding  the  Treaty  of  (ireenville  [1795],  the 
Miamis  alone  could  have  brought  more  than  three  thousand  war- 
riors in  the  field :  that  they  composed  a  body  of  the  finest  light 
troops  in  the  world,  and  had  they  been  under  an  efficient  system 
of  discipline,  or  possessed  enterprise  equal  to  their  valor,  the 
settlement  of  the  country  would  have  been  attended  with  much 
more  difficulty  than  was  encountered  in  accomplishing  it  and  their 
final  subjugation  would  have  for  years  been  delayed.  But  con- 
stant wars  with  our  frontier  had  deprived  them  of  many  of  their 
warriors,  the  ravages  of  the  small-pox,  however,  was  the  principal 
cause  of  the  great  decrease  in  their  numbers." 

It  was  only  the  Piankeshaw  band  of  the  Miamis,  however,  that 
occupied  portions  of  Ininois  subsequent  to  the  dispersion  of  La 
Salle's  colony  about  Starved  Rock.  The  principal  villages  of  the 
latter  were  upon  the  A^ermilion  River,  and  at  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  Vincennes,  Ind. 

Their  territory  extended  eastward  to  the  Ohio  River  and  west- 
ward to  the  ridge  that  divides  the  waters  flowing  respectively  into 
the  Kaskaskia  and  the  Wabash.  They  were  found  by  French 
officers  in  populous  towns  upon  the  Vermilion  as  early  as  17 18; 
later,  they  pushed  the  degenerating  Illinois  bands  to  the  vicinity 
of  Kaskaskia  and  neighboring  villages,  and  hunted  and  dominated 
over  the  territory  to  the  Mississippi,  as  high  up,  nearly,  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois. 

After  the  conquest  of  the  Northwest  Territory  by  the  colonies 
and  the  mother  country,  and  the  subsequent  overthrowof  Pontiac, 
the  British  Government  sent  out  George  Croghan  to  obtain  the 
consent  of  the  Indians  to  the  occupation  of  Kaskaskia  and  other 
forts  erected  by  the  French  in  the  western  country.  Croghan  was 
captured  by  a  war-party  of  Kickapoos,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Wabash,  and  taken  prisoner  to  Vincennes;  from  thence  he  came 
overland,  following  the  (Jreat  Trail  leading  to  Detroit,  through 
the  prairies,  along  the  crest  of  the  dividing  ridge  before  named, 


THE    MIAMIS.  I  I  I 

crossing  the  Vermilion  River  west  of  Danville.  He  describes 
that  part  of  the  hunting-ground  of  the  Piankcshaws  between  \'in- 
cennes  and  the  Vermilion  of  the  Wabash.  That  liie  reader  may 
know  how  the  Illinois  country  appeared  to  an  eye-witness  in  176^. 
who  wrote  down  his  observations  at  the  time,  we  ciuote  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  Col.  Croghan's  daily  journal,  of  June  iSth  to 
the  2 2d,  inclusive: 

"^Ve  traveled  through  a  prodigious  large  meadow  [prairie]  called 
the  Piankeshaw's  hunting-ground.  Here  is  no  wood  to  be  -• 
and  the  country  appears  like  an  ocean.  The  ground  is  e.\(  ■  ■ , 
ingly  rich  and  partially  overgrown  with  wild  hemjj.  The  land  is 
well  watered  and  full  of  buffalo,  deer,  bears,  and  all  kinds  of  wild 
game.  *  *  *  AVe  passed  through  some  very  large  meadows, 
part  of  which  belongs  to  the  Piankeshaws  on  the  \'ermilion  River. 
The  country  and  soil  were  much  the  same  as  that  we  traveled  over 
for  these  three  days  past.  AVild  hemp  grows  here  in  abundance. 
Game  is  very  plenty.  At  any  time,  in  a  half  an  hour,  we  could 
kill  as  much  as  we  wanted.''  '^  *  We  passed  through  a  part 
of  the  same  meadow  mentioned  yesterday;  then  came  to  a  high 
woodland,  and  arrived  at  Vermilion  River,  so  called  from  a  fine 
red  earth  found  there  by  the  Indians,  with  which  they  paint  them- 
selves. About  a  half  of  a  mile  from  where  we  crossed  this  river  is 
a  village  of  Piankeshaws,  distinguished  by  the  addition  of  name 
of  the  river." 

Next  to  the  Illinois,  the  Piankeshaws  were  the  most  peacefully 
inclined  toward  the  whites.  Early  intermarriages  of  their  daugh- 
ters with  French  traders,  at  A'incenne.s,  and  elsewhere,  and  with 
whom  this  tribe  lived  on  terms  of  social  equality,  begat  a  genera- 
tion that  united  them  all  in  a  common  interest.  It  was,  therefore, 
that  General  Clark,  in  his  conquest  of  the  Illinois  country,  found 
little  trouble  in  transferring  this  friendliness  of  the  Piankeshaws 
at  Vincennes  and  the  Vermilion  towns  to  the  American  cause, 
the  same  as  he  had  previously  done  at  Kaskaskia  and  the  iiei.uh- 
boring  mixed  French  and  Indian  villages  upon  the  MissisMpi-i. 
The  Piankeshaws,  barring  individual  exceptions,  took  no  part  \\\ 
those  bloody  wars  against  the  whites  that  followed  the  Revoiutit.n- 
ary  struggle.  It  was  not  thev,  but  war-parties  of  the  Kickapuos, 
Pottawatomies,  and  other  northwestern  tribes  that  terrorized  over 

*  There  must  have  been  more  than  one  hundred  persons  in  thi~ 
provide  food  for;  as  the  party  alone  by  whom  Croghan  and  h.^  _> 

were  captured,  numbered  eighty  warriors.  Hence,  it  would  require  a  good 
deal  o^meat,  doubtless  their  only  means  of  sustinance,  to  supply  their  daily 
wants. 


112  ILLINOIS    AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

the  white  settlements,  crystaUzing  along  the  Ohio,  the  Wabash, 
and  their  tributaries,  and  in  southwestern  Illinois.  In  the  retalia- 
tory raids  of  the  Americans  into  the  Indian  territory,  the  innocent 
Piankeshaws  often  suffered  avenging  blows  that  should  have  fallen 
upon  the  guilty  ones.  The  pioneer,  l)urning  with  a  sense  of  his 
wrongs,  only  considered  that  all  redskins  were  Indians,  and, 
without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  they  were  of  a  friendly  tribe 
or  not,  remorselessly  slew  upon  sight  any  one  of  them  whom  he 
discovered.  This  state  of  affairs  grew  so  bad  that  the  Pianke- 
shaws appealed  to  the  Government,  and  General  Washington 
issued  his  proclamation,  especially  forbidding  the  Piankeshaws 
from  being  harmed  by  the  white  people. 

The  capital  of  the  Miami  tribe,  from  earliest  times,  was  at  Ft. 
Wayne.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1700  they  were  there,  and  shortly 
before  had  assisted  Canadians  in  making  the  "Portage" — the  land 
carriage  from  the  St.  Marys  across  to  Little  River,  a  tributary  of 
the  A\"abash.  The  near  proximity  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Mau- 
mee,  flowing  eastwardly  into  Lake  Erie,  and  Little  River  and  the 
Wabash,  flowing  westward  and  south  into  the  Mississippi,  gave 
great  importance  to  this  Portage,  making  it  the  key  to  and  giving 
it  control  of  the  communication  between  the  vast  area  of  countrv 
l}ing  upon  either  side.  The  Miamis  well  knew  this,  and  held 
possession  until  forced,  at  last,  to  yield  it  to  the  United  States,  in 
1795,  by  the  terms  of  t^  treaty  at  Greenville.  At  that  treaty. 
Little  Turtle,  the  great  orator  of  the  Miamis,  protesting  against 
its  surrender,  said:  "Elder  brother  [meaning  Gen.  Wayne],  when 
our  forefathers  saw  the  French  and  the  English  at  the  Miami  vil- 
lage [as  Ft.  Wayne  was  then  known],  that  g/orioiis  gate  which  your 
younger  brothers  [the  Miamis]  had  the  happiness  to  own,  and 
through  which  all  the  good  words  of  our  chiefs  had  to  pass  [that 
is,  messages  between  the  several  tribes],  from  north  to  south,  and 
east  to  west,  the  French  and  the  English  never  told  us  they  wished 
to  purchase  our  lands  from  us.''  "The  next  place  you  pointed 
out  to  us  was  the  Little  River,  and  said  you  wanted  two  'miles 
square  at  that  place.  This  is  a  request  that  our  fathers,  the  French 
or  British,  never  made  of  us;  it  zvas  alicays  ours.  This  carrying 
place  has  heretofore  proved,  in  a  great  degree,  the  subsistence  of 
your  brothers.  That  place  has  brought  us,  in  the  course  of  one 
day,  the  amount  of  twelve  hundred  dollars.  Let  us  both  own 
this  place,  and  enjoy  in  common  the  advantages  it  affords."  Gen. 
Wayne  was  inexorable;  and,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  a  piece 
of  land  six  miles  square,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Rivers  St. 
Marys  and  St.  Joseph,  at  Ft.  Wayne,  and  a  piece  two  miles  square 
at  the  confluence  of  Little  River  with  tlie  Wabash,  was  ced^d  to 
the  United  States. 


THE   MIAMIS.  11^ 

The  Miamis  at  Ft.  Wayne  were  regarded  as  ilie  senior  band  of 
the  tribe,  from  their  superior  intelhgence  and  ninnl)i,-Di:  and  to 
whom  the  other  bands,  except  the  I'iankeshaws,  at  a  later  dav, 
deferred  in  all  matters  of  peace  or  war  or  affairs  affecting  tlie 
common- interests  of  the  tribe.  The  otlier  brandies  of  the  great 
Miami  family  had  extensive  villages  and  cultivated  fields  on  the 
Mississineway,  near  and  above  Peru,  Indiana:  along  Eel  Kivcr. 
near  Logansport  and  above;  upon  the  Wea  plains,  below  Lafay- 
ette; upon  Sugar  Creek;  and  upon  the  beautiful  i)rairie  strip  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Terre  Haute. 

Subsequent  to  the  Treaty  of  Greenville,  their  demoralization 
was  rapid  in  its  progress  and  terrible  in  its  consetiuences.  .So 
much  so,  that  when  the  Baptist  missionary,  the  Rev.  Isaac  McCo_\-, 
was  among  them  between  the  years  1817  and  1822,  and  drawing 
his  conclusions  from  his  own  observation,  he  declared  that  the 
Miamis  were  not  a  warlike  people.  At  the  villages  on  Sugar 
Creek,  Eel  River,  and  the  Mississineway,  and  i)articularly  at  I-'t. 
Wayne,  it  was  a  continuous  round  of  drunken  debauchery  when- 
ever whisky  could  be  obtained,  of  which  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren partook  alike;  and  life  was  often  sacrificed  in  personal  broils, 
or  by  exposure  of  the  debauchees  to  the  inclemency  of  the 
Aveather. 

By  treaties,  entered  into  at  various  times  from  1795  to  1845, 
the  Miamis  ceded  their  lands  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  and 
removed  west  of  the  Mississippi;  going  in  villages  or  by  detach- 
ments from  time  to  time.  In  1838,  at  a  single  cession,  they  sold 
the  U.  S.  Government  177,000  acres  of  land  in  Indiana,  which 
was  only  a  fragment  of  their  former  possessions,  still  retaining 
large  tracts.  Thus  they  alienated  their  heritage  piece  by  piece  to 
make  room  for  the  incoming  white  population,  while  they  gradu- 
ally disappeared  from  the  valleys  of  the  AN'abash  and  Mauniee. 
Few  of  them  clung  to  their  reservations,  adapted  themselves  to 
the  ways  of  the  Americans,  and  their  descendants  are  now  to  be 
met  with  in  or  about  the  cities  that  have  sprung  u[)  in  the  locali- 
ties named.  The  money  received  frftm  the  sales  of  their  lands 
proved  a  calamity,  as  the  proceeds  were  wasted  for  whisky. 

The  last  of  the  Miamis  to  go  westward  was  the  Mississineway 
band.  This  remnant,  comprising  in  all  about  350  persons,  in 
charge  of  Christmas  Dazney,*  left  their  old  homes,  where  many  of 

*  His  name  was  also  spelled  Dazney,   Dashney,  and  Daynett,  the  latter 

being  the  French  orthography.      He  was  born  Dec.  25,  1799.  at  the  so-called 

"Lower  Wea  Village",  or  "Old  Orchard  Town",  or  "/r<-<;//-/-f«..",  (The 

Rising  Sun],  within  the-southern  suburbs  of  the  present  City  of  Terre  Haute, 

8 


114  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

them  had  farm  houses  and  had  made  considerable  progress  in 
agricukure^in  the  fall  of  1846,  going  to  Cincinnati.  Here  they 
were  placed  on  a  steamboat,  taken  down  the  Ohio,  up  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Missouri,  and  landed,  late  in  the  season,  at  Westport, 
near  Kansas  City.     Ragged  men  and  nearly  naked  women  and 

Ind.  His  father,  Ambroise  Dagney,  was  a  native  Frenchman,  of  Kaskaskia, 
and  served  throughout  the  Tippecanoe  campaign,  in  Capt.  Scott's  Company 
of  MiHtia,  raised  at  Vincennes.  He  received  a  severe  flesh  wound  at  the 
battle  near  the  Prophet's  Town ;  lived  for  many  years  witli  his  daughter, 
Mary  Cott,  formerly  Mary  Shields,  on  a  reservation  secured  to  her  by  the 
Treaty  of  St.  Mary's,  Oct.  2,  1818,  and  situated  at  the  ancient  Indian  village 
near  the  "Vermilion  Salines",  some  four  miles  west  of  Danville,  III.,  where 
he  died  and  was  buried,  in  1848.  He  was  well  known  to  the  early  citizens 
of  Danville,  andtof  the  Wabash  Valley  from  Danville  to  Vincennes.  Upon 
all  convivial  occasions,  which  were  by  no  means  infrequent,  he  indulged  his 
fondness  for  telling  over  the  many  thrilling  incidents  and  dangerous  experi- 
ences of  his  wild  nomadic  life,  as  hunter,  trapper,  boatsman,  guide,  and 
soldier.  He  boasted  the  fact  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Gov.  Harrison, 
whose  memory  he  held  in  the  highest  esteem;  and  anathematized  with  volu- 
able  profanity,  all  "  bad  Inguns ",  as  he  called  those  who  were  unfriendly  to 
the  whites. 

Ambroise  Dagney's  wife  —  the  only  one  he  ever  had,  and  the  mother  of 
Christmas  Dagney  and  Mary  Cott,  was  Me-chin-quam-e-sha,  [The  Beautiful 
.Shade  Tree],  a  sister  of  Jocco,  or  Jack-ke-kee-kah,  [The  Tall  Oak],  head 
chief  of  the  Wea  Band  of  Miamis,  whose  old  and  principal  village  was 
the  one  we  have  named  near  Terre  Haute.  Later,  this  band  went  higher 
up  the  Wabash  to  a  secondary  village  near  the  mouth  of  Sugar  Creek. 

Under  the  instruction  of  Catholic  teachers,  the  son,  Christmas  Dagnay  re- 
ceived a  good  education.  He  spoke  the  English  and  French  languages  with 
great  fluency,  and  was  master  of  the  dialects  of  the  several  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois Indians.  He  served  for  many  years  at  Fort  Harrison  [on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Wabash,  near  and  above  Terre  Haute],  and  elsewhere,  as  Government 
interpreter  and  Indian  agent,  filling  these  various  (positions  of  confidence  and 
trust  efficiently  and  honestly.  Peb.  16,  1819,  he  was  married  to  Mary  Ann 
Isaacs,  an  educated  Christian  woman,  of  the  Brothertown,  N.V.  [Mohegan] 
Indians,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  while  she  was  spending  a  few 
weeks  on  a  visit  at  the  Mission  House  of  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy,  then  situated  on 
Raccoon  Creek,  near  Rosedale,  Park  Co.,  Ind.  Mr.  McCoy  performed  the 
marriage  ceremony,  as  he  says,  "in  the  presence  of  our  Indian  neighbors, 
who  were  invited  to  attend;  and  we  had  the  happiness  to  have  twenty-three 
of  the  natives  partake  of  a  meal  prepared  for  the  occasion. " 

Christmas  Dagney  died  in  184S,  at  Cold  Water  Grove,  Kansas,  and  his 
widow  subsequently  married^  Baptiste  Peoria,  mentioned  in  a  note  further  on. 


THE    MIAMIS.  1  i^ 

children,  forming  a  motley  group,  were  huddled  upon  the  shore 
of  a  strange  land,  without  food  or  friends  to  relieve^hcir  wants 
and  exposed  to  the  l)itter  December  winds  that  blew  from  the 
chilly  plains  of  Kansas. 

From  Westport  the  MississineA\ays  were  conducted  to  a  place 
near  the  present  village  of  Lewisburg,  Kansas,  in  the  county  .since- 
named  Miami,  'lliey  suffered  greatly  and  nearly  fine-third  of 
their  number  died  the  first  year.  Mrs.  Mary  Babtiste  Peoria,  then 
wife  of  Christmas  Dazney,  the  agent  having  these  unfortunate 
people  in  charge,  and  who  accompanied  her  husband  in  this  work, 
stated  to  the  writer  "that  strong  men  would  actually  cry  when 
they  thought  about  their  old  homes  in  Indiana,  to  which  many  of 
them  would  make  journeys  bare-footed,  begging  their  way  and 
submitting  to  the  imprecations  hurled  upon  them  from  the  door 
of  the  white  man  as  they  asked  for  a  crust  of  bread.  I  saw 
fathers  and  mothers  give  their  little  children  away  to  others  of  the 
tribe  for  adoption,  and  then  singing  their  funeral  songs  and  join- 
ing in  the  solemn  dance  of  death.  Afterward  go  calml)'  away 
from  the  assemblage,  never  again  to  be  seen  alive." 

In  1670,  the  Jesuit  father,  Claude  Dablon,  introduces  to  our 
notice  the  Miamis  at  the  village  of  Maskoutench;  where,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  the  chief  was  surrounded  by  his  officers  of 
state  in  all  the  routine  of  barbaric  display,  to  whom  the  natives 
of  other  tribes  paid  the  greatest  deference.  Advancing  eastward, 
in  the  rear  line  of  their  valorous  warriors,  the  Miamis  pushed 
their  villages  through  Illinois  into  Michigan  and  Indiana,  and  as 
far  into  Ohio  as  the  river  still  bearing  their  name.  Coming  in 
collision  with  the  French,  the  British,  and  the  Americans;  reduced 
by  constant  wars;  and  decimated,  more  than  all,  by  vices  con- 
tracted by  intercourse  with  a  superior  race,  whose  virtues  they 
failed  to  emulate,  they  make  a  westward  turn ;  and  having  in  the 
progress  of  time  described  the  round  of  a  most  singular  journey, 
we  at  last  behold  the  miserable  remnant  on  the  same  side  of  the 
Mississippi  from  whence  their  warlike  ])rogenitors  had  con>'  ncarlv 
two  centuries  before. 

The  Wea  and  Piankeshaw  band  had  preceded  the  Misbi.s.Mnc- 
way  to  the  westward ;  thev  too  had  become  reduced  to  al)out  two 
hundred  and  fifty  ])ersons.  They,  with  the  Miamis  and  remain- 
ing fragments  of  the  Kaskaskias,  the  latter  contammg  under  that 
name  what  yet  remained  of  the  several  subdivisions  of  the  o  d 
mini  confederacv,  were  collected  by  Baptiste  Peoria  and  consoli- 
dated under  the  title  of  The  Confederated  Tribes.*      Ihis  httle 

*  This  remarkable  man  was  the  son  of  a  daughter  of  a  suh-chicf  of  the 


Il6  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

confederation  sold  out  their  reservations  in  Miami  County,  Kan- 
sas, and  retired  to  a  tract  of  reduced  dimensions  within  the  Indian 

Peoria  Tribe,  and  was  born,  according  to  the  best  information,  in  1793,  near 
the  confluence  of  the  Kankakee  and  Maple,  as  the  DesPlaines  River  was 
called  by  the  Illinois  Indians.  His  reputed  father's  name  was  Baptiste,  a 
French  Canadian  and  trader,  among  the  Peoria  Band.  Young  Peoria  was 
called  Batticy,  by  his  mother;  later  in  life,  he  was  known  as  Baptise  '■'the 
Peoria",  and  finally,  as  Baptiste  Peoria.  The  people  of  his  tribe  gave  the 
name  a  liquid  sound,  pronouncing  the  name  as  if  it  were  spelled  Paola.  The 
county-seat  of  Miami  Co.,  Kansas,  is  named  after  him.  He  was  a  man  of 
large  stature,  and  possessed  of  great  strength,  activity,  and  courage;  and,  like 
Keokuk,  the  great  chief  of  the  Sac-and-Fox  Indians,  a  fearless  and  expert 
horseman.  Having  a  ready  command  of  the  French  and  English  languages, 
and  being  familiar,  as  well,  with  the  several  dialects  of  the  Pottawatomies, 
Shawnees,  Delawares,  Miamis,  Illinois,  and  Kickapoos;  these  qualifications 
as  a  linguist  soon  brought  him  into  prominence  among  the  Indians,  while  his 
known  integrity  as  readily  commended  his  services  to  the  United  States. 
From  the  year  1821  to  1838,  he  was  employed  in  assisting  the  removal  of  the 
above  tribes  from  Indiana  and  Illinois  to  their  respective  reservations  west- 
ward of  the  ^Missouri.  His  duties  in  these  relations  brought  him  in  contact 
with  many  of  the  early  settlers  on  the  Illinois,  the  Kaskaskia,  and  the  Wa- 
bash Rivers  and  their  constituent  streams.  He  represented  his  tribe  at  the 
Treaty  of  Edwardsville,  111.,  September  25,  t8i8.  By  this  treaty,  at  which 
there  were  present  representatives  from  each  of  the  five  Tribes  comprising  the 
Illinois  or  lUini  nation,  it  appears  that  for  a  period  of  years  anterior  to  that 
time,  the  Peoria  band  had  lived  and  were  then  living  separate  and  apart  from 
the  othors. 

Baptiste  Peoria  was  in  the  service  of  the  General  Government  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  in  the  Indian  Department;  and  in  1867,  became  head  chief  of 
the  consolidated  Miami  and  Illinois  tribes,  and  went  with  them  to  their  newly- 
assigned  reservation  in  the  north-east  part  of  the  Imlian  Territory,  where  he 
died  at  an  advanced  age,  Sept.  13,  1873.  Some  years  before,  he  married 
Mrs.  Mary  Dagney,  widow  of  Christmas  Dagney,  and  to  this  lady  is  the  author 
indebted  for  copies  of  the  "Western  Spirit",  and  the  "Fort  Scott  Monitor", 
newspapers  published  at  Paola  and  Ft.  Scott,  Kansas,  respectively,  containing 
biographical  sketches  and  obituary  notices  of  her  late  husband,  from  which 
this  note  has,  in  the  main,  been  collated. 

It  may  well  be  said  that  Baptiste  was  "The  Last  of  the  Peorias".  By 
precept  and  example  he  spent  the  better  portion  of  a  busy  life  in  persistent 
efforts  to  save  the  fragment  of  the  Illinois  and  Miamis  by  encouraging  them 
to  adopt  the  ways  of  civilized  life.  His  widow,  Mary  Baptiste,  7ice  Dagney, 
survives,  and  is  living  in  her  elegant  homestead  at  Paoli,  Kansas,  in  com- 
fortable circumstances. 


THE   MIA.MIS.  I  I- 

Territory.  Since  this  last  change  of  location,  in  1S67,  they  have 
made  but  little  progress  toward  a  higher  ci\ili/;uion.  Those  that 
remain  of  the  once  numerous  lllini  and  Miami  tribes  are  now- 
reduced  to  less  than  two  hundred  persons,  and  for  the  most  part 
are  a  listless,  idle  people,  possessing  none  of  the  spirit  that  had 
inspired  the  breasts  of  their  ancestors. 


THE  KICKAPOOS. 


The  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins  are  treated  here  as  but  one 
tribe,  for  the  difference  between  them  was  only  nominal  at  best. 
The  name  is  found  written  in  French  authorities  as  "Kic-a- 
poux",  "Kick-a-pous",  "Tvik-a-poux",  "Kik-a-bou",  "Quick-a- 
pous",  and  "Kick-a-pous".  Some  authors  claim  the  name  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  Algonquin  word  Nee-gig  [the  otter, 
or  the  spirit  of  an  otter].  Prof  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft,  a  rc(  01^- 
nized  authority  on  the  ethnology  of  the  northwestern  tribt-s, 
alluding  to  the  Kickapoos,  says,  they  are  "an  erratic  race,  who, 
under  various  names,  in  connection  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
have,  in  good  keeping  with  one  of  their  many  names,  which  is 
said,  by  one  interpretation,  to  mean  'Rabbits-Ghost"  [Wah- 
boos,  with  little  variation  in  dialect,  being  the  word  for  rabbit], 
skipped  over  half  the  continent,  to  the  manifest  discomfort  of 
both  German  and  American  philologists  and  ethnograi^hers,  who, 
in  searching  for  the  so-called  'Mascontens',  have  followec^,  so  far 
as  their  results  are  concerned,  an  ignis  fatitus'\ 

This  tribe  has  been  long  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
Northwest,  in  which  they  acquired  great  notoriety,  as  well  for 
the  wars  in  which  they  were  engaged  with  other  tribes,  as  for 
their  presistent  hostility  to  the  white  race  throughout  a  i)eriod  of 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  They  are  first  noticed  l)y 
the  French  explorer,  Samuel  Champlain,  who,  m  161 2,  discovered 
the  "Mascoutins  residing  near  the  place  called  S;ik-in-am  .  or. 
rather,  Sac-e-nong,  meaning,  in  Chii)peway,  the  country  ol  the 
Sacs,  which,  at  this  time,  comprised  that  part  of  the  Stale  ol 
Michigan,  lying  between  the  head  of  Lake  Erie  and  Saginaw 
Bay,  on  Lake  Huron.  In  1669-70,  as  seen  in  an  extract  from 
Father  Allouez,  quoted  in  the  chapter  relaimg  to  the  Miamis 
the  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins  were  found  in  connection  with 
the  Miamis,  near  the  mouth  of  Fox  River,  ^^  isconsm.  In  the 
same  letter,   Father  Allouez  says  that  "four  leagues  from  ihiN 


Il8  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

mixed  village  are  the  Kickabou,  who  speak  the  same  language 
with  the  Mascoutench".* 

This  people  were  not  pliant  material  in  the  hands  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. In  fact,  they  appear  to  have  acquired  early  notoriety 
in  history  by  seizing  Father  Gabriel  Ribourde  as  he  was  walking 
near  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  River,  absorbed  in  religious  medi- 
tation, and  whom  they  "carried  away,  and  broke  his  head",  as 
Henry  de  Tonti  quaintly  expresses  it,  in  referring  to  this  ruthless 
murder.  Again,  in  1728,  as  Father  Ignatius  Guignas,  compelled 
to  abandon  his  mission  among  the  Sioux,  on  account  of  a  victory 
which  the  Foxes  had  obtained  over  the  French,  was  attempting 
to  reach  the  Illinois,  he,  too,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Kicka- 
poos  and  Mascoutens,  and  for  five  months  was  held  a  captive, 
and  constantly  exposed  to  death.  During  this  time  he  was  con- 
demned to  be  burned,  and  was  only  saved  through  the  kindly 
intervention  of  an  old  man  in  the  tribe,  who  adopted  him  as  a 
son.  While  a  prisoner,  his  brother  missionaries  of  the  Illinois 
relieved  his  necessities  by  sending  timely  supplies,  which  Father 

*  The  Mascoutins,  in  the  works  of  French  authors,  appear  as  "Mascou- 
tench",  "Mackkoutench",  "  M&chkouteng ",  "Masqutins",  and  "Maskou- 
teins".  English  and  American  called  them  "Masquattimies",  "  ^Mascoutins  ", 
"  Musquitons  ",  "  Musquitos  ",  a  corruption  used  by  American  colonial  traders, 
and  "Meaows",  which  was  the  English  synonym  for  the  French  word  prab-ie, 
before  the  latter  had  become  naturalized  into  the  English  language. 

The  derivation  of  the  name  was  a  subject  of  discussion  among  the  early 
French  missionaries.  Father  Marquette,  with  some  others  who  followed  the 
Huron  Indian  rendition  of  it,  says,  "Maskoutens  in  Algonquin  may  mean 
Fire  Nation",  and  this  is  the  "name  given  th'em";  while  Fathers  Allouez 
and  Charlevoix  (whose  opportunities  to  know  were  better),  together  with  the 
still  more  recent  American  authors,  claims  that  the  word  signifies  a  prairie  or 
"a  land  bare  of  trees".  The  Ojebway  word  for  prairie  is  " Mus/t-koo-da". 
Bands  of  the  same  tribe  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  on  the  authority  of  Dr. 
James,  call  it  Mus-ko-tia.  Its  derivitive  or  root  is  Ish-koo-ta,  skoutay,  or 
scote  (ethnologists  differ  as  to  its  orthography),  and  which  is  the  algonquin 
word  for  Jire.  The  great  plains  westward  of  the  Wabash  and  the  lakes,  was 
truly  "  a  land  barren  of  trees ",  kept  so  by  the  annually  recurring  fires  that 
swept  over  through  the  tall  grass  in  billows  of  flame  and  smoke;  and  this  dis- 
tinguishing feature  is  aptly  preserved  in  the  name  the  Indians  gave  it.  Major 
Forsyth,  long  a  trader  at  Peoria,  in  his  manuscript  account  of  the  Indian 
tribes  of  his  acquaintance,  quoted  by  Dr.  Drake  in  his  Life  of  Black  Hawk, 
says,  "The  Mascos  or  Mascoutins  were,  by  French  traders  of  a  more  recent 
day,  called  gens  des  frairies  [men  of  the  prairie],  and  lived  and  hunted  on 
the  great  prairies  between  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  Rivers". 


THE   KICKAPOos.  ng 

(uiignas  used  to  gain  over  the  good  will  of  his  captors.  Having 
induced  them  to  make  peace,  he  was  taken  to  one  of  the  Illinois 
missions,  where  he  was  suftered  to  remain  or  ])arole  until  Nov., 
1729,  when  his  captors  returned  and  took  him  back  to  their  own 
country;  since  which  it  seems  nothing  has  ever  been  heard  of 
him. 

The  Kickapoos  early  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Frencli 
by  depredations  south  of  Detroit.  In  17 12,  a  band  of  them, 
living  in  a  village  near  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee  River,  in  com- 
pany with  about  thirty  Mascoutens,  were  about  to  make  war 
upon  the  French  Post  at  Detroit.  They  took  prisoner  one  Lang- 
lois,  a  messenger,  on  his  return  from  the  Miami  country,  whither 
he  was  bringing  many  letters  from  the  Jesuit  fathers  of  the  sev- 
eral Illinois  villages,  as  well,  also,  despatches  from  Louisiana. 
The  mauraders  destroyed  the  letters  and  despatches,  which  gave 
much  uneasiness  to  M.  Du  Boisson,  commandant  at  Detroit. 
As  a  result  of  this  act,  a  canoe,  laden  with  Kickapoos  on  their 
Avay  to  the  villages  near  Detroit,  was  captured  by  the  Hurons 
and  Ottawas,  residing  near  by,  and  who  were  allies  of  the  Frencii. 
Among  the  slain  was  the  principal  Kickapoo  chief,  whose  head. 
with  three  others  of  the  same  tribe,  were  brought  to  Du  Hoisson, 
who  informs  us  "that  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  committed  this 
act  for  the  alleged  reason,  that  the  previous  winter  the  Kicka- 
poos had  taken  some  of  the  Hurons  and  Iroiiuois  prisoners,  and 
also  because  they  had  considered  the  Kickapoo  chief  a  "true 
Outtagamis";  that  is,  they  regarded  him  as  one  of  the  Fox  nation. 

From  the  village  of  Machkoutench,  on  Fo.\  River,  Wis.,  the 
Kickapoos  seemed  to  have  passed  to  the  south,  e.xtending  their 
right  flank  in  the  direction  of  Rock  River,  and  their  left  toward 
the  southern  trend  of  Lake  Michigan.  Prior  to  17 18,  they  had 
villages  on  Rock  River  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago.  Indeed, 
Rock    River   appears   as    Kickapoo    River   on  cotemporaneous 

French  maps. 

In  1712,  the  Mascoutins  entered  the  plot  formed  tor  the  cap- 
ture of  the  post  of  Detroit ;  their  associates  repaired  to  the 
neighborhood,  and,  whereas  they  were  awaitmg  the  arny.il  of  the 
Kickapoos,  they  were  attacked  by  a  confederation  ol  ndians. 
who  were^friendly  to  the  French  and  had  hastened  to  the  rehei 
of  the  garrison.  The  destruction  that  followed  this  attempt 
against  Detroit,  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  remorseless^  in 
which  white  men  took  a  part,  of  which  we  have  an  account  in 
the  annals  of  Indian  warfare.  The  French  and  Indian  forces 
after  protracted  efforts,  compelled  the  enemy  to  abandon  her 
position   and  flee  to   Presque  Isle,  opposite    Hog   I>land,  near 


I20  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

Lake  St.  Clair,  some  distance  above  the  fort.  Here  they  held 
out  for  four  days;  their  women  and  children,  in  the  meantime, 
actually  starving,  numbers  of  whom  were  dying  every  day  from 
hunger.  Messengers  were  sent  to  the  French  commander,  beg- 
ging for  quarter,  and  offering  to  surrender  at  discretion,  only 
craving  that  the  remaining  survivors  might  be  spared  the  horrors 
of  a  general  massacre.  Perpetual  servitude  as  the  slaves  of  vic- 
tors; anything  rather  than  a  wholesale  destruction.  The  Indian 
allies  of  the  French  would  listen  to  no  terms.  "At  the  end  of 
fourth  day",  says  the  French  commander,  "after  fighting  with 
much  courage,  and  not  being  able  to  resist  further  the  Muscotins 
surrendered  at  discretion  to  our  people,  who  gave  them  no  quar- 
ter. Our  Indians  lost  sixty  men,  killed  and  wounded.  The 
enemy  lost  a  thousand  souls — men,  women,  and  children.  All 
our  allies  returned  to  our  fort  [at  Detroit]  with  their  slaves  [cap- 
tives], and  their  amusement  was  to  shoot  four  or  five  of  them 
every  day.     The  Hurons  did  not  spare  a  single  one  of  theirs". 

From  references  given,  it  is  apparent  that  this  people,  like  the 
Miamis  and  Pottawatomies,  were  progressing  south  and  eastward. 
This  movement  was  probably  caused  by  the  Sioux,  whose  fierce 
warriors  were  pressing  them  from  the  northwest.  As  early  as 
1695,  the  Foxes,  with  the  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins,  were 
meditating  a  migration  toward  the  Wabash  as  a  place  of  security. 
From  an  official  document  sent  from  Quebec,  relating  to  the 
occurrences  in  Canada  during  that  year,  the  department  at  Paris 
is  advised  "that  the  Sioux,  who  have  mustered  some  two  thou- 
sand warriors  for  the  ]Hirpose,  would  come  in  large  numbers  and 
seize  ///<^/;- village.  This  has  caused  the  Outagamies  to  quit  their 
country  and  disperse  themselves  for  a  season,  and  afterward  to 
return  and  save  their  harvest.  They  are  then  to  retire  toward 
the  Wabash  and  form  a  settlement  so  much  the  more  permanent, 
as  they  will  be  removed  from  the  incursions  of  the  Sioux,  and  in 
a  position  to  easily  effect  a  junction  with  the  Iroquois  and  Eng- 
lish, without  the  French  being  able  to  present  it.  Should  this 
project  be  realized,  it  is  very  apparent  that  the  Mascotins  and 
the  Kickapoos  will  be  of  the  party,  and  that  the  three  tribes,, 
forming  a  new  village  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  men,  would 
experience  no  difficulty  in  considerably  increasing  it  by  attracting 
other  nations  thither,  which  would  be  of  most  pernicious  con- 
sequences". That  the  Mascoutins,  at  least,  did  go  soon  after 
this  toward  the  lower  Wabash,  is  shown  by  the  fact  of  their 
presence  about  Juchereau's  trading-post,  which  erected  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  in  the  year  1700.  It  is  questionable,  how- 
ever, if  either  the  Foxes  or  Kickapoos  followed  the  Muscoutins 


THE    KICK  A  POOS.  121 

to  the  Wabash  country,  and  it  is  evident  that  tlie  Mascoiitins,  wh) 
survived  the  epidemic  that  broke  out  among  them  wlulc  at 
Juchereau's  post,  returned  to  the  north.  The  French  having 
effected  a  conciHation  with  the  Sioux,  we  find  that,  for  a  number 
of  years  subsequent  to  1705,  the  Mascoutins  were  again  l)ack 
among  their  affinities,  the  Foxes  and  Kickapoos  upon  their  com- 
mon hunting  grounds  in  northern  IlHnois  and  southern  Wisconsin. 
Later,  and  by  progressive  approaches,  the  Kickai)oos  worked 
further  southward,  and  estabhshed  tliemselves  in  the  territory 
lying  between  the  Ilhnois  and  Wabash  Rivers,  and  south  of  the 
Kankakee.  This  migration  was  not  accomphshed  without  oijpo- 
sition  and  blood  shed  in  punishing  the  Piankeshaws  east  and 
south  to  the  Wabash,  and  the  Illinois  tribes  south  and  west  upon 
the  lower  waters  of  the  Kaskaskia.  We  are  without  authentic 
i/afa  as  to  the  period  of  the  time  when  this  conquest  was  con- 
sumated.  At  the  treaty,  ocncluded  at  Edwardsville,  111.,  July  30, 
1 8 19,  between  Augusta  Chouteau  and  Benjamin  Stephenson, 
commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  i)rin- 
cipal  chiefs  and  warriers  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe,  the  latter  ceded 
the  following  lands,  residue  of  their  domain  until  then  undis- 
posed of,  viz.:  "Beginning  on  the  Wabash,  at  the  f//>/>ir  point  of 
their  cession  made  by  the  second  Article  of  their  Treaty  at  \'in- 
cennes,  on  the  9th  day  of  December,  iSog;"'  running  thence 
northwestwardly  to  the  dividing  line  between  the  State  of  Illinois 
and  Indiana;  thence  north  along  said  line  to  the  Kankakee; 
thence  with  said  river  to  the  Illinois  River;  thence  down  the 
latter  to  its  mouth;  thence  with  a  direct  line  to  the  nortlmest  cor- 
ner of  the  Vinceiines  tract,  as  recognized  in  the  Treaty  with  the 
Piankashaw  tribe  of  Indians  at  Vincennes,  on  the  30th  day  of 
December,    1805  ;t    and   thence  with  the  western  and  northern 

*  The  beginning  point  here  referred  to  is  "on  the  Wabash",  ,//  the  inouih 
of  the  Big  Vermilion  River.  By  previous  cessions  it  appears  that  the 
acknowledged  territory  of  the  Kickapoos  extended  down  the  Wabash  nearly 
as  far  as  Vincennes.  Vide  9th  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  September  30,  1S09, 
concluded  at  Ft.  W^ayne,  between  the  United  States  and  tlie  Delewarcs,  Tol- 
tawatomies,  Miamis,  and  Eel  River  tribes;  Treaty  of  Vincennes  of  Dec  9. 
1809,  between  the  United  States  and  the  Kickapoos. 

T  The  boundaries  of  "the  Vincennes  tract"  were  settled  by  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  at  Ft.  Wayne,  Tuly  7,  1803,  between  Cov.  Harrison  of  lh<|  •"J'-''"-'' 
Territory  (which,  at  that  time,  embraced  all  of  the  present  States  of  Michigan, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin),  and  the  several  Deleware.  Shawnee  lot- 
tawatomie,  Miami,  Eel  River,  Wea,  Piankeshaw,  Kickapoo,  and  KasV.^-  - 
tribes  within  his  jurisdiction.     The  first  Article  of  this  treaty  also  ex. 


122  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

boundaries  of  the  cessions  heretofore  made  by  the  said  Kickapoo 
tribe  of  Indians,*  to  the  beginning.  Of  which  last  described  tract 
of  land,  the  said  Kickapoo  tribe  claim  a  large  portion  by  descent 
from  their  ancestors,  and  the  balance  by  conquest  from  the  Illinois 
nation,  and  7/n  inter  rnpted  possession  for  more  than  half  a  century". 
The  claim  of  the  Kickapoos  to  the  country  referred  to  does  not 
rest  alone  upon  the  assertion  of  the  Kickapoos,  but  is  supported 
by  officers  of  the  French,  English,  and  American  governments, 
when  they  respectively  asserted  dominion  over  it.  Under  date 
of  April  2ist,  1752,  M.  de  Longueil,  commandant  at  Detroit, 
incorporates  in  an  official  report  upon  the  condition  of  Indian 
affairs  in  his  department,  that  he  had  received  advices  from 
"M.  de  Lingeris,  commandant  at  the  Oy-a-ta-nons,+  who  believes 
that  great  reliance  is  not  to  be  placed  on  the  Mascoutens,  and 

the  reasons  that  led  to  its  consumation.  It  is  as  follows :  "  Whereas,  it  is 
declared  by  the  4th  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Greenville,  that  the  United 
States  reserve  for  their  use  the  post  of  Vincennes,  and  all  the  lands  adjacent, 
to  which  the  Indian  titles  have  been  extinguished.  And,  whereas,  it  has  been 
found  difficult  to  determine  the  precise  limits  of  said  tract  as  held  by  the 
French  and  British  Governments;  it  is  hereby  agreed,  that  the  boundaries  of 
said  tract  shall  be  as  follows:  Beginning  at  Point  Coiipce  ["cut-off"  or  noted 
bend  in  the  river  some  eighteen  miles  above  Vincennes],  on  the  Wabash,  and 
running  thence,  by  a  north  seventy-eight  degrees  west,  twelve  miles  [into  Illi- 
nois]; thence  [south  by  west]  by  a  line  parallel  to  the  general  course  of  the 
Wabash,  until  it  shall  be  intersected  by  a  line  at  right  angles  to  the  same, 
passing  through  the  mouth  of  White  River  [about  eighteen  miles  below  Vin- 
cennes]; thence,  by  the  last  mentioned  line  [east  liy  south],  across  the  Wabash 
and  toward  the  Ohio  River,  seventy-two  miles;  thence  by  a  line  north  twelve 
degrees  west,  until  it  shall  be  intersected  by  a  line  at  right  angles  with  the 
same,  passing  through  Point  Coupee,  and,  by  the  last  mentioned  line,  to  the 
place  of  beginning."  The  boundaries  of  "the  \'incennes  tract",  as  thus 
defined,  appear  on  many  of  the  early  maps,  and  displays  a  tract  of  land  in 
the  shape  of  a  parallelogram,  some  thirty-six  miles  wide,  by  seventy-two 
long,  lying,  for  the  most  part,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Wabash  and  in  Indiana, 
an  average  width  of  about  ten  miles,  only,  off  of  the  west  end  of  it  being  in 
Illinois,  the  northwest  corner  of  which,  referred  to  in  the  text,  is  about 
twenty  miles  north,  and  some  ten  miles  west  of  Vincennes. 

*  By  previous  treaties,  the  Kickapoos  had  ceded  to  the  United  States  their 
claims  to  the  territory  from  "  the  Vincennes  tract "  as  high  up  the  Wabash  as 
the  mouth  of  Pine  Creek,  Warren  Co.,  Ind.,  and  extending  west  of  the  same 
stream  an  average  width  of  thirty  miles. 

+  Fort  Ouiatanon  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Wabash  River,  a  few 
miles  above  Attica,  Ind. 


THE    KICKAPOOS.  I  23 

that  their  remaining  neutral  is  all  that  is  to  be  expected  from 
them  and  the  Kickapoos."  Later,  and  after  the  northwest  terri- 
tory had  been  lost  to  France  and  ceded  to  Great  Britain  as  the 
fruit  of  the  French  colonial  war,  and  after  the  failure  of  the 
Indian  confederation  under  Pontiac  to  reconquer  the  same  terri- 
tory. Sir  ^Villiam  Johnson,  having  in  charge  the  Indian  affairs  of 
the  western  nations,  sent  his  deputy,  George  Croghan,  to  the 
Illinois  to  pacify  the  Indians  "to  soften  their  antipathy  to  the 
English,  to  expose  the  falsehood  of  the  French,  to  distribute 
presents,  and  prepare  a  way  for  the  passage  of  troops '*  who 
were  preceding  westward  to  take  possession  of  Fort  Chartes  and 
other  military  establishments  within  the  ceded  territory.  Groghan 
left  Fort  Pitt  on  May  t7th,  1765,  starting  down  the  Ohio  in  two 
batteaux,  having  with  him  several  white  persons,  and  a  number 
of  Deleware,  Iroquois,  and  Shawnee  Indians,  as  deputies  of 
tribes  inhabiting  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ohio,  with  whom 
Croghan  had  already  concluded  treaties  of  reconciliation  toward 
the  British.  On  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  June,  Croghan 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash.  They  dropped  down  the 
river  six  miles,  "and  came  to  a  place  called  the  old  Shawnee 
village,  some  of  that  nation  having  previously  lived  there"'.  He 
remained  here  the  next  day,  occupying  his  time  in  preparing  and 
sending  despatches  to  Fort  Chartes.  We  quote  from  his  journal: 
"On  the  8th,  at  daybreak,  we  were  attacked  by  a  party  of  Indi- 
ans, consisting  of  eighty  warriors  of  the  Kickapoos  and  Musqua- 
timies,  who  killed  two  of  my  men  and  three  Indians,  wounded 
myself  and  all  the  rest  of  my  party,  except  two  white  men  and 
one  Indian;  then  made  myself  and  all  the  white  men  prisoners, 
plundering  us  of  everything  we  had.  A  deputy  of  the  Shawnees, 
who  was  shot  through  the  thigh,  having  concealed  himself  in  the 
woods  for  a  few  minutes  after  he  was  shot — not  knowing  but  that 
they  were  southern  Indians,  who  were  always  at  war  with  the 
northward  Indians — after  discovering  what  nation  they  were, 
came  np  to  them  and  made  a  very  bold  speech,  telling  them  that 
the  whole  northward  Indians  would  join  in  taking  revenge  for 
the  insult  and  murder  of  their  people.  This  alarmed  those  sav- 
ages very  much,  who  began  to  excuse  themselves,  saying,  their 
fathers,  the  French,  had  spirited  them  up,  telling  them  that  the 
Indians  were  coming  with  a  large  body  of  southern  Indians  to 
take  their  country  from  them  and  enslave  them ;  that  it  was  this 
that  induced  them  to  commit  this  outrage.  After  dividing  the 
plunder  (they  left  a  great  part  of  the  heaviest  effects  behind),  they 
set  off  with  us  to  their  village  of  Ou-at-to-iion  in  a  great  hurry, 

*  Vide^  Parkman's  History  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac. 


124  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

being  in  dread  of  a  large  party  of  Indians,  which  they  suspected 
were  coming  after  me.  Our  course  was  through  a  thick  woody 
country,  crossing  a  great  many  swamps,  morrasses,  and  beaver 
ponds.""*  From  the  dafa  given,  taken  with  the  well-estabhshed 
historical  fact  that  the  Kickapoos  approached  the  \\'abash  from 
the  northwest,  it  is  evident  that,  prior  to  1752,  they  had  driven 
the  Illinois  tribes  from  the  hunting  grounds  lying  eastward  and 
south  of  the  Illinois  River.      In  this  conquest  they  were  assisted 

*  The  war  party  continued  up  the  river  the  9th,  loth,  nth,  12th,  13th,  and 
14th;  and  on  the  15th  reached  Vincennes.  "On  my  arrival  there",  says 
Croghan,  "  I  found  a  village  of  eighty  or  ninety  French  families,  seated  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river,  being  the  one  of  the  finest  situations  that  can  be 
found.  The  country  is  level  and  clear,  the  soil  very  rich,  producing  vv^heat 
and  tobacco.  I  think  the  latter  preferable  to  that  of  Maryland  or  Virginia. 
The  French  inhabitants  hereabouts  are  an  idle,  lazy  people,  a  parcel  of  rene- 
gades from  Canada,  and  much  worse  than  the  Indians.  They  took  a  secret 
pleasure  at  our  misfortunes,  and  the  moment  we  arrived  they  came  to  the 
Indians,  exchanging  trifles  for  their  valuable  plunder.  As  the  savages  took 
from  me  a  considerable  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  the  French  traders  ex- 
torted ten  half  johnies  from  them  for  one  pound  of  Vermilion.  Here  is 
likewise  an  Indian  village  of  the  Pyan-ke-shaws  [in  their  language  called 
'  Chip-kavv-kay',  rendered  the  town  of  Brushwood.  Dillon's  History  of  Indi- 
ana,] who  were  much  displeased  with  the  party  that  took  me,  telling  them 
that  'our  and  your  chiefs  are  gone  to  make  peace,  and  you  have  begun  a  war 
for  which  our  women  and  children  will  have  reason  to  cry.'  *  *  ^'  Port 
Vincent  is  a  place  of  great  consequence  for  trade,  being  a  fine  hunting  coun- 
try along  the  Wabash,  and  too  far  for  the  Indians,  which  reside  hereabouts, 
to  go  enter  to  the  Illinois,  or  elsewhere,  to  fetch  their  necessaries."  On  the 
17th,  Croghan  and  his  captors  crossed  the  Wabash,  and  came  up  through  the 
prairies  referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  the  Miamis,  and  on  the  23d  entered  a 
large  bottom  on  the  Wabash,  within  six  miles  of  Fort  Oui-a-ta-non,  Croghan 
further  says:  "The  Kickapoos  and  Musquatamies,  whose  warriors  had  taken 
us  live  nigh  the  fort,  on  the  same  side  of  the  river,  where  they  have  two  vil- 
lages." Croghan"s  Journal  continues  a  daily  account  of  his  movements  np 
the  Wabash  to  Ft.  Wayne,  down  the  Maumee,  and  up  the  lakes  to  Detroit, 
and  from  thence  to  Niagara  Falls;  and  gives  a  fair  insight  into  the  appear- 
ance and  topography  of  the  extensive  country  he  traversed  as  it  then  appeared, 
and  illustrates  the  temper  of  the  Indians  who  inhabited  it.  The  original 
manuscript  diary  was  obtained  by  Air.  Featherstonhough,  and  first  published 
in  his  "American  Journal  of  Geology",  and  in  December,  1831,  a  reprint  of 
100  copies  was  issued  in  pamphlet  form.  It  may  also  be  found  in  the  appen- 
dix of  Mann  Butler's  valuable  History  of  Kentucky,  in  either  of  the  editions 
of  1834  or  1836. 


THE   KICKAPOOS.  12; 

by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  Pottawatomies,  who  made  ;i  i  (hmuhjii 
pause  of  warfare  upon  the  IlHnois  tribes.  "Tradition  (says  the 
Pioneer  Historian  of  IlHnois,  the  Rev.  John  M.  Peck)  tells  us  of 
many  a  hard  fought  battle  between  the  original  owners  of  the 
country  and  these  intruders.  Battle  Ground  Creek  is  well-known 
on  the  road  from  Kaskaskia  to  Shawneetown,  twenty  five  miles 
from  the  former  place,  where  the  Kaskaskias  and  their  allies 
were  dreadfully  slaughtered  by  the  united  forces  of  the  Kicka- 
poos  and  Pottawatomies.'"* 

^Vithin  the  limits  of  the  territory  defined  by  the  treaty  at 
Edwardsville  in  1S19,  the  Kickapoos,  for  generations  before  that 
time,  had  many  villages.  The  principal  of  these  were  Kickapo- 
go-oui,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Wabash,  near  Hudson ville,  Craw- 
ford Co.,  Ill,  and  known,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  as  Musquiton  [Mascoutine] ;  another  on  both  sides  of 
the  Vermilion  River,  at  its  confluence  with  the  ^\'abash.  'J'his 
last  village  w-as  destroyed  by  Maj.  John  F.  Hamtramck,  in  Oct., 
1790,  whose  military  forces  moved  up  the  river  from  ^'incennes 
to  create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  Gen.  Harmer,  then  leading  the 
main  attact  against  the  Miami  town  at  Fort  Wayne  and  other 
Indian  villages  in  that  vicinity.  Higher  up  the  Vermilion  were 
other  Kicka'poo  towns,  particularly  the  one  some  four  miles  west 
of  Danville,  and  near  the  mouth  of  the  Middle  Fork.  The 
remains  of  one  of  the  most  extensive  burial-grounds  in  the 
Wabash  Valley,  still  attest  the  magnitude  of  this  once  populous 
Indian  city;  and.  although  the  village  site  has  been  in  cultivation 
for  over  fifty  years,  every  recurring  year  the  ploughshare  turns  uji 
flint  arrow-points,  stone-axes,  gun-flints,  gun-locks,  knives,  silver 
brooches,  or  other  mementoes  of  its  former  inhabitants.  These 
people  were  greatlv  attached  to  the  country  watered  by  the  Ver- 
milion and  its  tributaries;  and  Gov.  Harrison  found  a  diflicult 
task  to  reconcile  them  to  ceding  it  away.  In  his  letter  to  the 
secretary  of  war,  of  Dec.  10,  1809,  referring  to  his  ettorts  to  m- 
duce  the  Kickapoos  to  part  with  it,  the  governor  says  he  "was 
extremely  anxious  that  the  extinguishment  of  tide  should  extern! 
as  high  up  as  the  Vermilion  River,  but  it  was  objected  to  because 

*  "An  Historical  Sketch  of  the  early  American  settlements  in  Illinois,  from 
17S0  to  1800.  Read  before  the  Illinois  State  Lyceum,  at  its  Anniver,ary. 
August  16,  1S32.  By  J.  M.  Peck."  Published  in  No.  2  of  VoK  '- ^^  "'<-■ 
Western  Monthly  Magazine  for  February,  1833.  Other  accounts  fix  the  date 
of  this  last  great  battle  about  the  year  1800,  and  ascribe  its  planing  and  exe- 
cution to  the  great  Pottawatomie  warrior  and  medicine  man  known  as  ah- 
bun-ou  We-ne-ne  or  '' Tlie  Jujgler". 


126  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

it  would  include  a  Kickapoo  village.  This  small  tract  of  about 
twenty  miles  square"*  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  that  can  be 
conceived,  and  is,  moreover,  believed  to  contain  a  very  rich  cop- 
per mine.  I  have  myself  frequently  seen  specimens  of  the  cop- 
per; one  of  which  I  sent  to  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1802.  The  Indians 
were  so  extremely  jealous  of  any  search  being  made  for  this 
mine,  that  traders  were  always  cautioned  not  to  approach  the 
hills  which  were  supposed  to  contain  the  mine."t 

The  Kickapoos  had  other  villages  on  the  Embarras,  some 
•miles  west  of  Charlestown,  and  still  others  about  the  headwaters 
of  the  Kaskaskia.  During  the  period  when  the  territory  west  of 
the  Mississippi  belonged  to  Spain,  her  subjects  residing  at  St. 
Louis  "carried  on  a  considerable  trade  among  the  Indians  east- 
ward of  the  Mississippi,  particularly  the  Kickapoos  near  the  head- 
waters of  the  Kaskaskia.'" t  Further  northward  they  had  still 
other  villages,  among  them  one  toward  the  headwaters  of  Sugar 
Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Sangamon  River,  near  the  southwest 
corner  of  McLean  County.  §  The  Kickapoos  had,  besides,  vil- 
lages west  of  Logansport  and  Lafayette,  in  the  groves  upon  the 
prairies,  and  finally,  a  great  or  capital  village  near  what  is  well- 
, known  as  ''Old  ToK'n"  timber,  in  West  Township,  McLean  Co., 
111.  These  last  were  especially  obnoxious  to  the  pioneer  settlers 
of  Kentucky,  because  the  Indians  living  or  finding  a  refuge  in 
them,  made  frequent  and  exasperating  raids  across  the  Ohio, 
where  they  would  murder  men  and  women,  and  carry  off  captive 
children,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lesser  crimes  of  burning  houses 
and  stealing  horses.  So  annoying  did  these  offences  become, 
that  several  expeditions  were  sent  out  in  retaliation.     That,  com- 

*  It  extended  up  the  Vermilion  River  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  in  a  direct 
line  from  its  mouth. 

fThe  specimens  referred  to  were  doubtless  "drift  copper",  now  supposed  to 
have  drifted  in  from  their  native  beds  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Superior. 
Since  the  settlement  of  the  Vermilion  county  by  the  whites,  many  similar 
specimens  have  been  found.  Only  within  the  present  year,  1883,  some  work- 
men, while  engaged  in  digging  a  cellar  in  Danville,  unearthed,  from  near  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  a  piece  of  pure  copper,  weighing  eighty-seven  pounds. 
It  was  secured  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Winslovv  of  Danville,  for  Prof.  John  Collett, 
state  geologist  of  Indiana,  who  has  deposited  it  in  the  State  Cabinet  at  Indi- 
anapolis. 

X  Sketches  of  Louisiana,  by  Maj.  Amos  Stodard. 

§  This  village  was  burned  in  the  fall  of  1812,  by  a  part  of  Gov.  Edwards' 
forces,  while  on  their  march  from  Camp  Russell  to  Peoria  Lake.  Vide  Gov. 
Reynolds'  My  Own  Times. 


THE   KICKAPOOS. 


127 


manded  by  Gen.  Qias.  Scott,  in  the  month  of  Ma_\.  i;.;i,  de- 
stroyed the  Kickapoo  town  near  Oui-a-ta-non  [referred  to  in  con- 
nection with  the  capture  of  Croghan].  In  the  month  of  August  of 
the  same  year,  a  second  expedition,  lead  by  (Icn:  Jas.  Wilkinson, 
left  Kentucky  on  a  similar  mission.  In  the  instructions  given  \)y 
Gov.  St.  Clair  (then  the  executive  head  of  the  military  as  well  as 
of  the  civil  affairs  of  the  Northwest  I'erritory)  to  (ien.  Wilkinson, 
we  find  the  following:  "Should  the  success  attend  you  at 
LWnguile,''*'  which  I  wish  and  hope,  you  may  find  yourself  e(iual 
to  the  attacking  the  Kickapoo  town  situated  in  the  prairie  nofc 
far  from  Sangamon  River,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Illinois 
River.  By  information,  that  town  is  not  distant  from  L'Anguile 
more  than  three  easy  days'  marches.  A  visit  to  thaf  plate  will 
be  totally  unexpected,  and  most  probably  attended  with  decided 
good  consequences;  neither  will  it  be  hazardous,  for  the  men,  at 
this  season,  are  generally  out  hunting  beyond  the  Illinois  country. 
Should  it  seem  feasible  from  circumstances,  I  recommend  the 
attempt  in  preference  to  the  towns  higher  up  the  Wabash,  and 
success  there  would  be  followed  by  great  eclat."  The  general 
did  not  reach  the  great  Kickapoo  town.  His  troops,  jaded  by 
forced  marches,  and  the  effectual  destruction  of  the  Eel  River 
village,  and  encumbered  with  prisoners,t  "launched  westwanl 
through  the  boundless  prairies",  only  to^  become  "environed  on 
all  sides  with  morasses,  which  forbade  his  advancing".  They 
were  compelled,  toward  the  end  of  the  day,  to  return.  On  their 
way  back,  however,  they  struck  the  Kickapoo  town  west  of 
Lafayette,  and  destroyed  it. 

The  people  of  Kentucky  were  not  the  only  sufferers  from 
depredations  of  this  tribe.  From  their  towns  near  the  Wabash, 
the  Kickapoo  war  parties  lurked  upon  the  skirts  of  the  settle- 
ments on  the  American  Bottom  from  Kaskaskia  to  Cahokia,  l)em 
on  the  murder  or  capture  of  any  unprotected  person  that  tell  in 
their  way,  excepting  alone  those  of  French  blood,  who,  with  their 
property,  were,  wit1i  rare  exceptions,  exempt  from  molestation 
So  strong  was  the  regard  of  the  Kickapoos,  in  common  with  all 
other  Algonquin  tribes,  for  the  Frenchman. 

*  The  Eel  River  town  on  Eel  River,  some  six  miles  above  Logansjwrt, 
Ind.,  and  which  was  to  be  attacked. 

+  His  prisoners  consisted  mostly  of  women  and  children,  and  numbered 
thirty-four  in  all.  His  instructions,  like  those  issued  to  C.cn.  Scott,  roiuircd 
him  to  take  all  women  and  children  they  could,  and  turn  them  over  to  the 
officer  in  command  at  Ft.  Washington  (now  Cincinnati),  m  the  hope  that  by 
thus  paying  the  Indians  back  in  kind,  they  would  cease  their  cruel  forays 
upon  helpless  and  unoffending  non-combatants. 


128  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

Mr.  Peck's  historical  sketch  of  the  early  American  settlements 
in  Illinois,  before  quoted,  is  largely  taken  up  with  narrations  of 
the  killing  and  capture  of  white  settlers  in  the  neighborhoods 
named,  and  the  destruction  or  the  plunder  of  their  property. 
AVc  summarize  a  few  paragraphs  from  his  address,  by  way  of 
illustration : 

"The  Kickapoos  were  numerous  and  warlike,  and  had  their 
principal  towns  on  the  Illinois  and  the  Vermilion  of  the  Wabash. 
They  were  the  most  formidable  and  dangerous  neighbors  to  the 
whites,  and,  for  a  number  of  years,  kept  the  settlements  [on  the 
American  Bottom]  in  continual  alarm.'"  The  address  then  takes 
up  a  narration  of  yearly  events  from  1783  to  1795,  showing  the 
sufferings  and  danger-;  to  which  the  white  ])opulation  was  ex- 
posed on  account  of  Indian  depredations,  inflicted  in  the  main 
by  Kickapoos. 

Among  the  most  notable  cai)tures  was  that  of  Wm.  Biggs,  in 
1788.  On  the  morning  of  March  28  of  that  year,  while  he,  in 
company  with  young  John  Vallis,  was  going  from  Bellefountaine 
to  Kahokia,  they  were  surprised  by  a  war  party  of  sixteen  Kicka- 
poo  Indians.  Vallis  was  wounded  in  the  thigh,  and,  being 
mounted  on  a  fine  horse,  was  soon  beyond  reach  of  the  flying 
balls,  and  made  his  escape  only  to  die,  howev'er,  of  his  wounds. 
Four  bullets  were  shot  into  Biggs'  horse;  and  the  animal  became 
so  frantic  with  pain,  and  frightened,  more  than  all,  with  the  yells 
of  the  savages,  that  it  became  unmanageable;  Biggs'  "gun  was 
thrown  from  his  shoulder,  and  twisted  out  of  his  hands";  in  try- 
ing to  recover  his  gun,  and  being  incumbered  "with  a  large 
bag  of  beaver  fur,  which  prevented  him  from  recovering  his 
saddle,  which  had  neither  'girth  or  crupper",  it  turned  and  fell 
off  of  the  horse,  and  Biggs  'fell  with  it".''  The  rider  held  on  to 
the  horse's  mane,  and  was  soon  upon  his  feet,  making  ineffectual 
attempts  to  remount,  as  his  terrified  horse  dragged  him  along  for 
some  "twenty  or  thirty  yards",  when  his  "hold  broke,  and  he  fell 
on  his  hands  and  knees,  and  stumbled  along  four  or  five  steps 
before  he  could  recover  himself."  "By  the  time  I  got  fairly  on 
my  feet",  continues  the  narrator,  "the  Indians  were  about  eight 
or  ten  yards  off  me.  I  saw  there  was  no  other  way  to  make  my 
escape  but  by  fast  running,  and  I  was  determined  to  try  it,  and 
had  but  little  hopes  at  first  of  being  able  to  escape,  I  ran  about 
one  hundred  yards  before  I  looked  back — I  thought  almost  every 
step  I  could  feel  the  scalping-knife  cutting  my  scalp  off.  I  found 
that  I  was  gaining  ground  on  them,  I  felt  encouraged,  and  ran 
about  three  hundred  yards  further,  and  looking  back,  saw  that  I 
had   gained  about  one  hundred   yards,   and  considered   myself 


THE   KICKAI'UOS. 


129 


quite  out  of  danger."  Biggs'  hopes,  however,  were  not  well 
grounded.  Tlie  morning  was  cold,  and  before  setting  out  from 
home  on  his  journey,  he  had  clothed  himself  in  a  heavy  under- 
coat, over  which  was  a  greatcoat,  securely  tied  about  the  waist 
with  a  large,  well-worn  silk  handkerchief,  tied,  in  the  hurrv  of  the 
moment,  in  a  double  hard  knot.  Anticipating  a  long  race,  he 
endeavored  to  divest  himself  of  all  surplus  garments;  the  knotted 
handkerchief  would  not  untie;  he  pulled  his  arms  out  of  the 
sleeves  of  his  greatcoat,  which,  trailing  on  the  ground,  would 
"wrap  around  his  legs  and  throw  him  down",  so  that  he  "made 
no  headway  at  running".  His  pursuers,  seeing  his  predicament, 
renewed  the  chase  with  more  vigor,  and  soon  overtook  and  secured 
him.  His  captor,  says  Biggs,  "took  the  handle  of  his  tomahawk, 
and  rubbed  it  on  my  shoulder  and  down  my  arm,  which  was  a 
token  that  he  would  not  kill  me,  and  that  1  w-as  his  prisoner." 

At  the  risk  of  "traveling  further  out  of  the  record"  of  the  gen- 
eral scope  of  this  chapter,  we  quote  a  few  more  extracts  from  Mr. 
Biggs'  Narrative,  as  they  admirably  illustrate  some  of  the  caprices 
and  traits  of  Indian  character.  At  the  first  evening's  encamp- 
ment, and  the  Indians  having  finished  their  eating,  one  of  them 
sat,  "with  his  back  against  a  tree,  with  his  knife  between  his  legs. 
I,  says  Biggs,  was  sitting  facing  him  with  my  feet  nearly  touching 
his.  He  began  to  inquire  of  me  what  nation  I  belonged  to.  I 
was  determined  to  pretend  that  I  was  ignorant  and  could  not 
understand  him.  I  did  not  wish  them  to  know  that  I  could 
speak  some  Indian  languages,  and  understood  them  better  than  I 
could  speak.  He  first  asked  me,  in  Indian,  if  I  was  Mat-to-cush 
(that  is,  in  Indian,  a  Frenchman);  I  told  him  no.  He  then 
asked  me  if  I  was  a  Sag-e-nash  (an  Englishman);  1  told  him  no. 
He  again  asked  if  I  was  a  She-mol-sea  (that  is,  a  long  knife  or 
Virginian);  I  told  him  no.  He  then  asked  me  if  I  was  a  Hos- 
tonely*  (that  is  an  xAmerican);  I  told  him  no.  About  a  minute 
afterward,  he  asked  me  the  same  questions  over  again,  and  I 
answered  him  jrs.'     He  then  spoke  P^nglish,  and  catched  up  his 

knife,  and  said,  'You  are  one  d —  son  of  a  b ".      I  really 

thought  he  intended  stabbing  me  with  his  knife.  I  knew  it  would 
not  do  to  show  cowardice.  I,  being  pretty  well  accjuainted  with 
their  manners  and  ways,  jumped  up  on  my  feet,  and  spoke  in 
Indian,  and  said,  ' Man-e-t-wa,  Kieji-de-pa-7C'ay'  (in  English  it  is, 
'No:   I  am  very  good');  and  clapped  my  hands  on  my  breast 

*  Mr.  Biggs'  interpretation  is  a  liltle  too  broad.  Bos/on-e-/v  was  an  epithet 
obtained  by  the  Indians  from  the  Canadian  French,  who  applied  it  to  the  New 
Enfjlanders  or  Vankies. 


130  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

when  I  spoke,  and  looked  very  bold.  The  other  Indians  all  set 
up  such  a  ha  I  ha  I  and  laughter,  that  it  made  him  look  very  fool- 
ish, and  he  sat  still  and  became  quite  sulky." 

The  Kickapoos  took  their  prisoner  across  the  prairies  of  Illi- 
nois, reaching  their  village  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Wabash,  near 
old  Fort  Weaoatanon  (which,  at  the  time  of  this  occurrence,  was 
merely  a  trading-post),  on  the  tenth  day  of  his  capture.  Remain- 
ing several  weeks  with  the  Kickapoos  and  at  the  trading-post, 
Mr.  Biggs  effected  his  release  through  the  kindly  interference  of 
the  traders  at  the  latter  ])lace,  prominent  among  whom  was  an 
Englishman,  Mr.  McCauslin,  and  Mr.  Bazedone,  a  Spaniard,  with 
whom  Biggs  "had  an  acquaintance  in  the  Illinois  country",  and 
who  paid  the  Indians  in  trade  an  equivalent  of  $260  for  his  ran- 
some,  for  which  sum  Biggs  "gave  his  note,  payable  in  the  Illinois 
country."  Later,  he  passed  down  the  Wabash.' and  the  Ohio, 
and  up  the  Mississippi,  in  a  pirogue  or  large  canoe,  and  safely 
reached  his  family. 

Mr.  Biggs  was  greatly  liked  by  his  captors  and  their  kinsmen, 
who  complimented  for  his  bravery,  his  fleetness  of  foot,  his 
shapely  limbs,  long  and  beautiful  hair,  and  handsome  physique. 
They  adopted  him  into  their  tribe,  giving  him  the  name  of  Moh- 
cos-se-a,  after  the  name  of  a  chief  who  had  been  killed  by  the 
whites  the  year  before.  After  which  he  "was  to  be  considered 
one  of  that  Kickapoo  family,  in  place  of  their  [slain]  father.'"  He 
was  also  offered,  in  marriage,  a  handsome  Indian  girl,  a  relation 
of  the  same  family,  who,  encouraged  by  her  parents,  exhausted 
her  arts,  in  a  manner  of  becoming  modesty,  to  win  his  consent; 
Mr.  Biggs  protesting  that  he  was  already  a  married  man,  the 
father  of  three  children,  whose  mother  was  his  wife,  and  that  it 
was  against  the  laws  of  his  country  for  a  man  to  have  more  than 
one  wife  at  a  time.  This  Indian  girl  had  prepared  his  first  regu- 
lar meal  after  his  arrival  at  the  Wabash.  Says  Biggs,  "it  was 
hominy,  beat  in  a  mortar,  as  white  as  snow,  and  handsome  as  I 
ever  saw,  and  very  well  cooked.  She  fried  some  dried  meat, 
pounded  very  fine  in  a  mortar,  in  oil,  and  sprinkled  it  with  sugar. 
She  prepared  a  very  good  bed  for  me,  with  bear-skins  and  blank- 
ets." She  brought  him  "hot  water  in  a  tin  cup,  and  shaving 
soap,  and  more  clean  water  in  a  basin",  and  a  cloth  to  wipe  his 
hands  and  face  after  the  process  of  shaving  was  done  with,  i 
"She  then  told  me  to  sit  down  on  a  bench.  I  did  so.  She  got 
two  very  good  combs — a  coarse  and  a  fine  one.  It  was  then 
the  fashion  to  wear  long  hair.  Mine  was  very  long  and  thick, 
and  much  tangled  and  matted — I  traveled  without  any  hat  or 
anything  else  on  my  head,  and  that  was  the  tenth  day  it  had  not 


THE    KICKArOOS.  I3, 

been  combed.  She  combed  out  iny  hair  very  tenderly,  and  then 
took  the  fine  one  and  combed  and  looked  my  head  nearly  one 
hour.  She  went  to  a  trunk  and  got  a  ribbon,  and  grea.se'd  my 
hair  very  nicely.  The  old  chief  [father  of  the  girl,  as  we  learn 
elsewhere]  gave  me  a  fine  regimental  blue  cloth  coat,  diced  with 
yellow  buff  cloth;  the  son-in-law  gave  me  a  very  good  l)ca\-er 
Mackinaw  hat.  These  they  had  taken  from  some  ofllcers  they 
had  killed.  Then  the  widow  squaw  took  me  into  her  cabin  and 
gave  me  a  new  ruffled  shirt  and  a  very  good  blanket."  All  these 
he  put  on,  and,  at  the  request  of  the  donors,  he  walked  the  floor 
to  their  delight.  The  girl  followed  him  to  the  abode  of  the 
widowed  and  orphaned  family  to  whom  he  had  been  given,  and 
which  was  in  another  neighborhood,  where  she  took  her  place  at 
his  cabin  door,  silently  waiting,  in  the  hope  he  would  relent  and 
invite  her  in.  "She  stood  by  my  door  for  sometime  after  dark — I 
did  not  know  when  she  went  away.  She  stayed  two  days  and 
three  nights  before  she  returned  home.  I  never  spoke  to  her 
while  she  was  there.  She  was  a  very  handsome  girl,  about  18 
years  of  age,  a  beautiful  full  figure,  and  handsomely  featured,  and 
very  white  for  a  squaw.  She  was  almost  as  white  as  dark  com- 
plexioned  women  generally  are;  and  her  father  and  mother  were 
very  white  skinned  Indians."'' 

To  resume.  In  the  desperate  plans  of  Tecumthe,  the  Kicka- 
poos  took  an  active  part.  Thi.s  tribe  caught  the  infection  at  an 
early  day  of  those  troubles;  and  in  1806,  Gov.  Harrison  sent 
Capt.  Wm.  Prince  to  the  Vermilion  towns  with  a  speech  addressed 
to  all  the  warriors  and  chiefs  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe;  giving  Capt. 
Prince  further  instructions  to  proceed  to  the  villages  of  the  \)vai- 

*  Mr.  Biggs  had  been  one  of  Gen.  Clark's  soldiei's  in  the  conquest  of  tlie 
Illinois,  and  liking  the  country,  early  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionaiy 
War,  he  returned  and  settled  at  the  Bellefountaine,  the  name  of  an  early  set- 
tlement in  Monroe  Co.,  111.,  ten  miles  north  of  Kaskaskia.  lie  held  several 
territorial  and  state  offices,  and  filled  them  with  honor  and  ability.  In  1S26, 
shortly  before  his  death,  he  published  "a  narrative"  of  his  capture  by  and  his 
experience  while  with  the  Kickapoos.  It  is  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-three 
pages,  printed  with  poor  type  on  very  common  paper.  But  few  copies  were 
issued,  and  scarcely  any  of  these  seem  to  have  been  preserved.  It  was  only 
after  a  search  of  several  years  that  the  writer  was  so  fortunate  as  to  get  sight 
of  one.  Gov.  Reynolds,  in  his  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,  gives  a  fair  sketch 
of  Mr.  Biggs.  That  given  in  the  text  is  condensed  or  quoted  directly  frqm 
the  "Narrative",  and  differs  from  J.  M.  Peck's,  as  it  makes  no  mention, 
whatever,  of  the  Ogle  Brothers  being  in  company  with  Biggs  and  \'allis  at  the 
time  of  the  capture. 


132  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

rie  bands,  if,  after  having  delivered  the  speech  at  the  Vermilion 
towns,  he  discovered  there  would  be  no  danger  to  himself  in  pro- 
ceeding beyond.  The  speech,  which  was  full  of  good  words  and 
precautionary  advice,  had  little  effect;  and  "shortly  after  the 
mission  of  Capt.  Prince,  the  Prophet  found  means  to  bring  the 
whole  of  the  Kickapoos  entirely  under  his  influence."  [  Vide 
Memoirs  of  Gen.  Harrison.  We  produce  extracts  of  Gov.  Har- 
rison's "talk",  referred  to,  to  show  the  style  of  such  addresses. 
Gen.  Harrison,  being  an  adept  in  this  kind  of  literature,  could 
suit  such  papers  to  the  occasion,  and  draft  them  within  the  range 
and  to  the  understanding  of  the  people  for  whom  they  were  in- 
tended, better,  perhaps,  than  any  other  agent  the  Government 
ever  had  in  the  troublesome  field  of  Indian  diplomacy.  "Wm.  H. 
Harrison,  Gov.,  etc.,  Supt.  of  Indian  affairs,  etc.,  etc.,  to  his  chil- 
dren, the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe."  My  chil- 
dren :  I  lately  sent  you  a  message  by  one  of  your  warriors,  but 
I  have  not  yet  received  an  answer.  The  head  chief  of  the  We-as 
has,  however,  been  with  me,  and  has  assured  me  that  you  still 
keep  hold  of  the  chain  of  friendship,  which  has  bound  you  to 
your  father  since  the  treaty  made  with  ( ren.  Wayne  [referring  to 
the  Treaty  of  Greenville,  of  1795]- 

"My  children,  this  information  has  given  me  great  pleasure, 
because  I  had  heard  that  you  had  suffered  bad  thoughts  to  get 
possession  of  your  minds. 

"My  children,  what  is  it  you  wish  for?  Have  I  not  often  tolc 
you  that  you  should  inform  me  of  all  your  grievances,  and  that 
you  should  never  apply  to  your  father  in  vain. 

"My  children:  Be  wise,  do  not  follow  the  advise  of  those  who 
would  lead  you  to  destruction;  what  is  it  they  would  persuade 
you  to? — to  make  war  upon  your  fathers,  the  Seventeen  Fires? 
[The  United  States,  then  seventeen  in  number.] — What  injury 
has  your  father  done  you? — If  he  has  done  any,  why  do  you  not 
complain  to  him  and  ask  redress? — Will  he  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
your  complaints?  He  has  always  listened  to  you,  and  will  listen 
to  you  still;  you  will  certainly  not  raise  your  arm  against  him. 

"My  children,  you  have  a  number  of  young  warriors,  but  when 
compared  to  the  warriors  of  the  United  States,  you  know  they 
are  but  as  a  handful.  My  children,  can  you  count  the  leaves 
on  the  trees,  or  the  grains  of  sand  in  the  ri\'er  banks?  So  numer- 
ous are  the  warriors  of  the  Seventeen  Fires. 

"My  children,  it  would  grieve  your  father  to  let  loose  his  war- 
riors upon  his  red  children;  nor  will  he  do  it,  unless  you  compel) 
him ;  he  had  rather  that  they  would  stay  at  home  and  make  corn 
for  their  women  and  children ;  but  he  is  not  afraid  to  make  war 
he  knows  that  thev  are  brave. 


THE    KICKAPOOS. 


133 


"My  children,  he  has  men  armed  with  all  kinds  of  wcajions; 
those  who  live  on  the  big  waters  [the  sea  coast]  and  in  the  big 
towns,  understand  the  use  of  muskets  and  bayonets  [of  which 
last  the  Indians  had  become  very  mucli  afraid  since  their  disas- 
trous encounter  with  (len.  Wayne  in  the  engagement  on  the 
Maumee,  in  1794,  where  the  bayonet  was  used  with  terrilile 
effect],  and  those  who  live  on  this  side  the  mountains  [the  Alle- 
ghanies]  use  the  same  arms  that  you  do  [long  range  riiles]. 

"My  children:  The  Great  Spirit  has  taught  your  fathers  to 
make  all  the  arms  and  ammunition  which  they  use;  but  you  do 
not  understand  this  art;  if  you  should  go  to  war  with  your  fathers, 
who  would  supply  you  with  those  things?  The  Ih'itish  can  not; 
we  have  driven  them  beyond  the  lakes,  and  tliey  can  not  send  a 
trader  to  you  without  our  permission. 

"My  children,  open  your  eyes  to  your  true  interest;  your  father 
wishes  you  to  be  happy.  If  you  wish  to  have  your  minds  set  at 
ease,  come  and  speak  to  him.  My  children,  the  young  man 
[Capt.  Prince]  who  carries  this  is  my  friend,  and  he  will  speak  to 
you  in  my  name;  listen  to  him  as  if  I  were  to  address  you,  and 
treat  him  with  kindness  and  hospitality." 

The  Kickapoos  fought  in  great  numbers  and  with  frenzied 
courage  at  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  They  early  sided  with  the 
British  in  the  war  that  was  declared  between  that  power  and  the 
United  States  the  following  June;  and  sent  out  many  war  parties, 
that  kept  the  settlements  in  Indiana  and  lUinois  in  constant 
peril;  while  other  warriors  of  their  tribe  participated  in  almost 
every  battle  fought  during  this  war  along  the  western  frontier. 

As  a  military  ]5eople,  the  Kickapoos  were  inferior  to  the  Mia- 
mis,  Delawares,  and  Shawnees,  in  movements  requiring  large 
bodies  of  men ;  but  they  were  preeminent  in  predatory  warfare. 
Small  parties,  consisting  of  from  five  to  twenty  or  more,  were  the 
usual  number  comi)rising  their  war  parties.  These  would  push 
out  hundreds  of  miles  from  their  villages,  and  swoop  down  upon 
a  feeble  settlement,  or  an  isolated  pioneer  cabin,  and  burn  the 
property,  kill  the  cattle,  steal  the  horses,  capture  the  women  and 
children,  and  be  off  again  before  an  alarm  could  be  given. 

\\hile  the  Pottawatomies  and  other  tribes,  in  alliance  with  the 
British,  laid  siege  to  Ft.  AN'ayne,  the  Kickapoos,  assisted  by  the 
Winnebagoes,  were   assigned  to   the  capture  of   Ft.  Harrison. 

*  Finished  Oct.  28,  181 1,  and  situated  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Wahasli, 
about  two  miles  above  the  lower  Wea  Town  of  "  Wa-au-ta-no",  and  a  mile 
or  move  above  the  present  City  of  Terra  Haute,  Ind.  It  was  erected  by  the 
forces  under  Gov.  Harrison,  while  on  their  way  from  Vincennes  to  the  Proph- 


134  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

They  nearly  succeeded,  and  would  have  taken  it  but  for  the  most 
heroic  and  determined  defence,  that  gave  its  commander,  Capt. 
Zachary  Taylor,  a  national  renown. 

The  plan  of  the  attack  was  matured  by  the  Kickapoo  war  chief, 
Pa-koi-shee-can,'''  who,  in  person,  undertook  the  execution  of  the 
most  difficult  and  dangerous  part  of  it.  First  the  Indians  loi- 
tered about  the  fort,  ha\ing  a  few  of  their  women  and  children 
with  them,  to  induce  a  belief  that  their  presence  was  friendly, 
while  the  main  body  of  warriors  were  secreted  at  a  distance  Avait- 
ing  for  favorable  developments.  Pretending  they  were  in  want 
of  provisions,  the  men  and  women  were  allowed  to  approach 
near  the  fort,  and  were  thus  given  opportunity  to  inspect  the  fort 
and  its  defences.  A  dark  night,  giving  the  appearance  of  rain, 
favored  the  plan  which  was  at  once  executed.  The  warriors  were 
brought  to  the  front,  and  women  and  children  sent  to  the  rear. 
Pa-koi-shee-can,  with  a  large  butcher  knife  in  each  hand,  threw 
himself  at  length  upon  the  ground.  He  drove  a  knife,  held  in 
one  hand,  into  the  ground,  and  drew  his  body  up  against  it; 
then  reached  forward  with  the  knife  in  the  other  hand,  and  driv- 
ing that  into  the  ground,  again  drew  himself  along.  In  this  way, 
like  a  snake  in  the  grass,  he  approached  the  lower  block-house. 
He  heard  the  sentinels  on  their  rounds  on  the  inside  of  the  pali- 
sade. As  the  guards  advanced  toward  that  part  of  the  works 
where  the  lower  block-house  ivas  situated,  Pa-koi-shee-can  would 
lie  still;  and  when  the  guards  made  the  turn  and  moved  in  the 
opposite  direction,  he  again  crawled  nearer.  In  this  way  the 
crafty  savage  gained  the  very  walls  of  the  block-house.  There 
was  a  crack  between  the  logs  of  the  block-house,t  and  through 
this  opening  the  Kickapoo  placed  a  quantity  of  dry  grass,  bits  of 
Avood,  and  other  combustibles,  brought  for  the  purpose  in  a 
blanket,  tied  pouch  fashion  upon  his  back.  While  the  prepara- 
tion for  this  incendiarism  was  in  progress,  the  sentinels,  in  their 

et's  Town,  during  the  memorable  Tippecanoe  campaign;  and,  by  unanimous 
request  of  all  the  officers,  christened  after  the  name  of  their  commander.  It 
was  enclosed  with  palisades,  and  officers  and  soldiers  barracks,  and  defended 
at  two  angles  with  two  block-houses,  similar  to  that  seen  in  illustrations  of 
old  Forts  Wayne  and  Dearborn. 

*  The  Blackbury  Fl(rwer,  abreviated  by  the  French  to  La  Farine  [The 
Flower],  the  name  by  which  he  was  generally  known  among  the  white  people. 

t  Gen.  Harrison  also  mentions  this  fact,  and  adds  that  this  building  was 
used  for  the  storage  of  whisky  and  salt;  that  the  cattle  had  licked  the  chink- 
ing out  to  get  at  the  salt,  and  that  the  opening  between  the  logs  was  made  in 
this  way. 


THE   KICKAPOOS.  I  35 

rounds  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  block-house,  passed  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  place  where  the  fire  was  about  to  be  lighted.  All 
being  in  readiness,  and  the  sentinels  at  the  further  side  of  the 
enclosure,  Pa-koi-shee-can  struck  a  fire  with  his  flint,  and  thrust 
it  within,  and  threw  his  blanket  quickly  over  the  opening,  to  jire- 
vent  the  blaze  from  flashing  outside,  alarming  the  garrison  before 
the  building  was  well  on  fire,  ^^"hen  assured  that  the  fire  was 
well  under  way,  he  fell  back  and  gave  the  signal,  when  the  attack 
was  immediately  begun  by  the  Indians  at  the  opposite  extremity 
of  the  fort  with  great  fury.  The  lower  block-house  burned  down 
in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  garrison  to  prevent  it;  and,  for  a 
while,  the  Indians  were  exultant,  feeling  assured  of  a  complete 
^•ictory.  Capt.  Taylor  constructed  a  barricade  with  material  taken 
from  another  building;  and,  by  the  time  the  block-house  had 
consumed,  the  Indians,  to  their  great  disappointment,  discovered 
a  new  line  of  defence,  closing  the  breach  through  which  they  had 
expected  to  effect  an  entrance.  [The  Indian  account  of  the 
attack  on  Ft.  Harrison,  as  above  given,  was  first  published  in 
1879,  in  the  writer's  "Historic  Notes",  etc.  It  is  in  harmony 
with  official  reports,  except  that  the  latter,  for  want  of  information 
on  the  part  of  those  who  wrote  them,  contain  nothing  as  to  plans 
of  the  Indians,  nor  how  the  block-house  was  fired.  The  account 
given  in  the  text  was  narrated  to  the  writer  by  INIrs.  Mary  A. 
Baptiste,  as  it  was  told  to  her  by  Pa-koi-shee-can  himself.  This 
lady,  with  Christmas  Dagney,  her  first  husband,  were  at  Ft.  Har- 
rison in  182 1,  where  the  latter  was  assisting  in  the  disbursement 
of  annuities  to  the  Indians  then  assembled  there  to  receive  them. 
The  business  and  spree  that  followed,  occupied  two  or  three  days. 
Pa-koi-shee-can  was  present  with  some  of  his  people,  to  receive 
their  share  of  the  annuities;  and  the  old  chief,  havmg  leisure, 
edified  Mr.  Dagney  and  his  wife  with  a  minute  account  of  his 
attempt  to  take  the  fort,  pointing  out  the  positions  and  move- 
ments of  himself  and  his  warriors.  As  he  related  the  story,  he 
warmed  up,  and  indulged  in  a  great  deal  of  pantomime,  wliich 
gave  force  to,  as  it  heightened  the  effect  of,  the  narration.  The 
particulars  are  given  substantially  as  Mrs.  Baptiste  repeated  them 
to  the  writer.  She  had  never  read  an  account  of  the  engagement.] 
AVe  find  no  instance  in  w^hich  the  Kickapoos  were  allied  with 
either  the  French  or  the  British,  in  any  of  the  intrigues  or  wars 
for  the  control  of  the  fur  trade,  or  the  acquisition  of  disputed 
territory,  in  the  Northwest.  They  did  not  mix  or  mingle  their 
blood  with  French  or  other  white  people;  and,  as  compared  in 
this  regard  with  other  tribes,  in  the  voluminous  treaties  with  the 
Federal  Government,  there  is  a  singular  absence  of  land  reserva- 


136  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

tions  in  favor  of  half-breed  Kickapoos.  Unlike,  the  Illinois,  the 
Miamis,  and  other  tribes  living  upon  the  lines  of  the  early  com- 
merce of  the  country,  or  whose  villages  were  marts  of  the  fur 
trade,  the  Kickapoos  kept  at  a  distance,  and  escaped  the  demor- 
alization which  this  trade,  and  a  contact  with  its  unscrupulous 
emissaries,  inflicted  upon  the  tribes  coming  within  their  baneful 
influence. '•■  As  compared  with  other  Indians,  the  Kickapoos- 
were  industrious,  intelligent,  and  cleanly  in  their  habits,  and  were 
better  armed  and  clothed.  As  a  rule,  the  men  were  tall,  sinewy, 
and  active;  the  women  lithe,  and  many  of  them  by  no  means 
lacking  in  beauty.t  Their  dialect  is  soft  and  liquid  when  con- 
trasted with  rough,  guttural  language  of  the  Pottawatomies. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  of  181 2,  the  Kickapoos  ceased  their 
hostilities  toward  the  whites,  and  a  few  years  later,  disposed  of 
the  residue  of  their  lands  in  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  bands,  emigrated  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
Gov.  Reynolds  says  of  them,  "They  disnked  the  United  States 
so  much,  that  they  decided  when  they  left  Illinois,  that  they 
would  not  reside  within  the  limits  of  our  Government,  but  would 
settle  in  Texas. ''t  A  large  body  of  them  did  go  to  Texas;  and 
when  the  Lone  Star  Republic  became  a  member  of  the  Federal 
Union,  these  Kickapoos  retired  to  New  Mexico;  and  later,  some 
of  them  went  even  to  old  Mexico.  Here,  on  these  frontier  bor- 
ders, these  wild  bands  have,  for  years,  maintained  the  reputation 
of  their  sires,  and  enterprising  race.  Col.  R.  B.  Marcy,  in  1854, 
found  one  of  their  bands  upon  the  Chocktaw  reservation,  near 
the  Witchita  River.  He  says  of  them,  "They,  like  the  Dela- 
wares  and  Shawnees,  are  well  armed  with  good  rifles,  in  the  use 
of  which  they  are  very  expert,  and  there  are  no  better  hunters 
or  warriors  upon  the  borders.  They  hunt  together  on  horseback, 
and  after  a  party  of  them  have  passed  through  a  section  of  coun- 
try, it  is  seldom  that  any  game  is  left  in  their  trace.  They  are 
intelligent,  active,  and  brave,  and  frequently  visit  and  traffic  with 

*  Says  Maj.  Stoddard,  in  his  Sketches  of  Louisiana,  "There  is  a  striking 
difference  between  those  Indians  who  live  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  whites 
and  those  who  reside  at  a  distance  from  them.  The  former,  especially  if 
accustomed  to  a  long  intercourse,  have  wonderfully  degenerated.  They  have 
gradually  imbibed  all  the  vices  of  the  whites,  and  forgotten  their  own  virtues. 
They  are  drunkards  and  thieves,  and  act  on  all  occasions  with  the  most  con- 
sumate  duplicity."  The  observations  of  Maj.  Stoddard  are  corrobor"ated  by 
Gov.  Harrison,  Judge  Jacob  Burnett,  and  other  eminent  men,  speaking  from 
their  own  experience. 

+  Gov.  Reynolds'  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois. 


THE   KICKAPOOS.  I  37 

the  prairie  Indians,  and  have  no  fear  of  meeting  those  people  in 
battle,  providing  the  odds  are  not  more  than  six  to  one  against 
them."* 

The  Kickapoos  of  the  Vermihon,  comprising  the  bands  of 
Mac-ca-naw,  or  Mash-e-na\v  (77/6'  Elk-Horn),  Ka-an-a-kuck,  and 
Pa-koi-shee-can,  were  the  last  to  emigrate.  'J'hey  lingered  in 
Illinois  upon  the  waters  of  the  PLmbarrass,  the  Vermilion,  and 
its  northwest  tributaries,  until  1832  and  1833;  when  they  joined 
a  body  of  their  people  upon  a  reservation  set  apart  for  their  use- 
west  of  Fort  Leavenworth,  and  within  the  limits  of  lirown  and 
Jackson  Counties,  Kansas,  where  the  survivors  and  the  descen- 
dants of  those  who  have  died  now  reside  upon  their  farms. 
Their  good  conduct,  comfortable  homes,  and  well  -  cultivated 
fields,  attest  their  steady  progress  in  the  ways  of  civilized  life. 
The  wild  bands  have  always  been  troublesome  along  the  south- 
western borders;  every  now  and  then  their  depredations  form 
the  subject  of  some 'item  of  current  newspaper  notices.  P'or 
years  the  Government  failed  in  its  efforts  to  induce  these  bands 
to  remove  to  some  place  within  the  Indian  Territory,  where  they 
might  be  restrained  from  annoying  the  border  settlements  of  Texas 
and  New  Mexico.  Some  years  ago,  a  part  of  the  semi-civiHzed 
Kickapoos  in  Kansas,  preferring  their  old,  wild  life,  left  their 
reservations,  and  joined  the  bands  to  the  Southwest.  After  years' 
wanderings  in  quest  of  plunder,  they  were  persuaded  to  return, 
and  in  1875,  settled  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  supi)lied  with 
the  necessary  implements  and  provision.'^,  to  enable  them  to  go 
to  work  and  earn  an  honest  li\ing.  In  this  effort  toward  reform, 
they  are  now  making  commendable  progress.t  In  1875,  ^|''*^ 
civilized  Kickapoos  in  the  Kansas  Agency  numbered  385 ;  while 
the  wild  or  Mexican  band  numbered  420,  as  appears  from  the 
official  report  on  Indian  affairs  for  that  year.  Their  numbers 
were  never  great,  as  compared  with  the  Miamis,  or  Pottawato- 
mies;  however,  they  made  up  for  this  deficiency  l)y  the  energy 
of. their  movements.  In  language,  manners,  and  customs,  the 
Kickapoos  bear  a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  Sac  and  Fox 
Indians,  whose  allies  they  generally  were,  and  with  whom  they 
have,  by  some  writers,  been  confounded.:}: 

*  Marcy's  "Thirty  Years  of  Army  Life  on  the  Border." 

t  Report  of  Commrs.  on  Indian  Affairs. 

%  Corroborative  of  this,  Geo.  Catlin,  in  his  admirable  work  on  the  North 
American  Indians,  says,  "The  Kickapoos  had  long  lived  in  alliance  willi 
Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  their  language  was  so  similar,  that  the  two  seemed  to  be 
almost  one  family."  Dr.  Jediah  IMorse,  Albert  Gallatin,  and  other  American 
attthorities  could  be  cited  to  the  same  effect,  were  it  at  all  necessary. 


138  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 


THE  WINNEBAGOS. 

In  "The  Jesuit  Relations",  for  the  years  1653  to  1670,  inclu- 
sive, this  tribe  are  alluded  to  under  various  names,  as  Ouimbe- 
gouc,  Ouimpegouec,  and  Ouinibegoutz — the  French  "Ou"  being 
nearly  synonymous  in  the  sound  of  its  pronunciation  with  the 
English  letter  W, — and  was  a  name  given  them  by  the  Algon- 
quins,  with  whom  the  meaning  was  Fetid,  translated  by  the  French 
as  Puants.  The  Algonquin  tribes  called  the  Winnebagoes,  say 
the  missionary  fathers,  by  this  name  because  the  latter  came  from 
the  westward  ocean,  or  'salt  water,  which  the  Indians  designated 
as  the  "Fetid  ^V^ater".'''  The  Winnebagoes  called  themselves 
Hochungara  [0-chun-ga-ra],  or  Ochungarand,  which  is  to  say, 
on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Schoolcraft,  "the  trout  nation,  or  Horoji 
[fish  eaters].'"  They  were  of  the  Dacota,  or  Sioux  stock,  to 
whose  language  their  own  assimilated  as  nearly  as  it  differed 
radically  from  that  of  their  Algonquin  neighbors.  .Their  incur- 
sion into  the  ancient  territory  of  the  Illinois  was  strenuously 
opposed  by  the  latter;  and  the  disputed  boundary  line  between 
the  two  shifted  north  or  south,  as  the  fortune  of  war  favored  the 
one  or  the  other.  The  final  chances,  however,  were  with  the 
Illinois,  whose  greater  numbers  and  equal  bravery  were  more 
than  a  match  for  their  adversaries,  who,  for  the  most  part,  were 
driven  well  back  within  the  present  limits  of  Wisconsin,  and 
where,  in  more  modern  times,  they  have  been  regarded  as  a  tribe 

*  The  Winnebagoes  were  first  met  with  by  tlie  Jesuit  fathers,  near  the 
mouth  of  Fox  River — originally  called  the  Kan-kan-lin — at  the  head  of  Green 
Bay,  Wis.  Their  presence  here  gave  to  the  waters  of  Green  Bay  the  first 
name,  by  which  it  was  designated  in  the  Jesuit  Relations,  and  the  early  maps, 
'■'■  Lac-des- Puants",  and  "Zi?  Baye  des  PziaHts''\  As  early  as  1647  and  1648, 
it  is  referred  to  in  "The  Relations"  as  follows:  A  peninsula,  or  strip  of  land, 
quite  small,  seperates  this  Superior  Lake  [referring  to  Lake  Superior]  from 
another  third  lake,  called  by  us  ''  the  la/ce  of  the  Puants\  which  also  discharges 
itself  into  our  fresh-water  sea,  aliout  ten  leagues  more  toward  the  west  than 
the  Sault, " — /.  e.,  the  Sault  de  Ste.  Marie,  connecting  Lake  Superior  with 
Lake  Huron.  "On  its  shores",  continues  this  "Relation",  "dwell  a  different 
people,  of  an  unknown  language;  that  is  to  say,  a  language  that  is  neither 
Algonquin  nor  Huron.  These  people  are  called  Puants  [stinkards],  not  on 
account  of  any  unpleasant  odor  that  is  peculiar  to  them,  but  because  they  say 
they  came  from  the  shores  of  a  sea  far  distant  toward  the  West,  the  waters  of 
which  being  salt,  they  call  themselves  'the  people  of  the  sea'." 


THE   WINNEBAGOES.  I  39 

of  that  State.  Still,  the  territorial  claims  of  the  contestants  was 
not  finally  settled  until  1825,  when,  after  a  nearly  continuous 
warfare  of  almost  two  centuries  with  the  Illinois  or  their  succes- 
sors, it  was  agreed  at  a  treaty,  held  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  between 
the  United  States,  the  Winnebagoes,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  the 
Pottawatomies,  and  other  attending  tribes,  that  "the  Winnebago 
country  should  be  bounded  as  follows :  Southeasterly,  by  Rock 
River,  from  its  source  near  the  Winnebago  Lake  [in  Central- 
eastern  Wisconsin],  to  the  Winnebago  Village,  about  forty  miles 
above  its  mouth,"  etc.,  etc.;  [near  the  mouth  of  the  Peck-a-ton- 
o-kea,  Jo  Daviess  Co.,  Ill]  A  map  will  indicate  what  portion  of 
Illinois  this  boundary  describes. 

As  compared  with  the  Algonquin  tribes,  history  records  but 
few  complaints  against  the  Winnebagoes  in  the  predatory  war- 
fare upon  the  white  settlements.  The  bravery  of  their  warriors 
is  fully  attested,  however,  in  the  several  engagements  with  the 
forces  of  Gov.  St.  Clair  and  Gen.  Wayne,  in  which  they  fought 
■with  conspicuous  courage.  The  whole  tribe  were  fairly  carried 
by  Tecumthe  and  his  brother,  the  Prophet,  and  gave  hearty  sup- 
port to  all  the  nefarious  schemes  of  these  agitators.  Naw-kaw, 
the  principle  chief  of  their  nation,  and  Hoo-tshoop-kaw,  of  lesser 
note,  were  two  of  Tecumthe's  personal  attendants,  and  followed 
him  in  all  his  extended  missions  of  proselytism  among  the  nations 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  In  the  war  of  181 2,  these  two  Win- 
nebagoes were  members  of  the  sacred  band,  that  guarded 
Tecumthe's  person;  they  were  near  him  when  he  fell,  with  mor- 
tal wounds,  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  and  assisted  in  bearing 
his  dead  body  from  the  field  to  a  place  of  secure  interment.* 

*  At  the  Treaty  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  concluded  Aug.  i,  1829,  at  which  the 
Winnebagoes  ceded  their  lands  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  to  the  United 
States,  Caleb  Atwater,  Esq.,  one  of  the  commissioners  acting  on  the  part  of 
the  latter,  there  met  Naw-kaw,  who,  he  says,  "complained  to  me  tiiat,  in  all 
of  our  accounts  of  Tecumthe,  we  had  only  said  of  him  that,  'Winnebago,  who 
always  accompanies  Tecumthe',  without  calling  the  Winnebago  by  his  name, 
Naw-kaw  Caromaine."—"At\vater's  Tour  to  Prairie  du  Chien."  The  same 
author,  in  his  "History  of  Ohio",  says,  in  this  connection,  while  at  Prairie 
du  Chien,  in  1S29,  "  Naw-caw  [Wood]  and  Hoo-tshoop-kaw  [Four  legs]  were 
with  him;  and  that,  from  statements  of  these  constant  companions  of  Tecum- 
the, during  nearly  twenty  years  of  his  life,  we  proceed  to  state,  that  Tecumtiie 
lay  with  his  warriors  in  a  thick  underbrush,  on  the  left  of  the  American  army; 
that  these  Indians  were  at  no  period  of  the  battle  out  of  their  tliick  under- 
brush; that  Naw-caw  saw  no  officer  between  them  and  the  American  army; 
that  Tecumthe  fell  [at]  the  very  first  fire  of  the  Kentucky  dragoons,  pierced  by 


I40  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

At  the  engagement  at  Tipi)ecanoe,  the  conduct  of  the  Winne- 
bago braves  was  a  matter  of  especial  mention.  We  quote  from 
Gen.  Harrison's  Memoirs:  "A  Winnebago  chief  approached  the 
exterior  [camp]  fire  of  Capt.  Barton's  company,  where  the  Hnes 
had  been  considerably  drawn  in,  and  pushing  up  the  brands  to 
make  a  light,  squatted  down  to  peck  his  [gun]  flint,  or  to  do 
something  with  his  gun.  He  was,  however,  immediately  fired  at 
from  Capt.  Cook's  company,  which  was  not  more  than  twenty 
yards  from  him,  and  fell  dead  into  the  fire.  One  of  the  men 
asked  the  captain's  permission  to  go  and  scalp  him;  and,  as  no 
attack  had  been  made  on  that  part  of  the  line  for  some  time,  he 
was  allowed  to  go.  The  Yankee,  however,  being  inexperienced 
in  the  business,  it  took  him  some  time  to  effect  it;  he  was  fired 
at,  and  returned  to  his  company  with  the  scalp  in  his  hand, 
indeed,  but  with  a  ball  through  his  body,  which  caused  his  death 
in  a  few  hours  after.  In  the  course  of  the  battle,  the  Indian  was 
taken  off,  without  being  observed  by  Captain  Cook,  and  conveyed 
to  the  [Prophet's]  town,  where  his  body  was  found  and  known 
by  its  having  been  scalped  and  much  burned.  The  body  had 
been  taken  away  without  Capt.  Cook's  perceiving  it,  and  is  an 
instance  of  the  care  with  which  the  Indians  remove  the  dead 
bodies  of  their  friends  in  action.  At  Tippecanoe,  they  rushed 
up  to  the  bayonets  of  our  men,  and  in  one  instance,  related  by 
Capt.  Snelling,  an  Indian  adroitly  put  the  bayonet  of  a  soldier 
aside,  and  clove  his  head  with  a  war-club — an  instrument  on 
which  there  is  fixed  a  triangular  piece  of  iron,  broad  enough  to 
project  several  inches  from  the  wood."  "Their  conduct  on  this 
occasion,  so  different  from  what  it  usually  is,  was  attributed  to  a 
confidence  of  success,  with  which  their  Prophet  had  inspired 
them,  a////  to  the  distiiigiiishcd  bravery  of  the  Wuinebago  warriors.'' 

The  only  disturbances  with  which  this  people  seem  to  have 
been  connected,  subsequent  to  the  war  of  1812,  was  that  of  the 
so-called  Winnebago  War  [or  scare]  of  1827.  Several  acts  of 
reciprocal  hostility  had  been  committed  between  individual  Win- 
nebagoes  and  whites  along  the  upper  Mississippi,  which  soon 
defected  the  whole  tribe,  and,  for  a  while,  threatened  the  peace 
of  the  entire  northwestern  frontier.  Gov.  Reynolds,  in  his  "My 
Own  Times",  gives  the  following  account  of  the  cause  that  pro- 
voked   the    breach    of    the   i)eace:     "x-Vbout    the    last   of    July, 

tliirty  bullets,  and  was  carried  four  or  five  miles  into  the  thick  woods,  and 
there  buried  by  the  warriors,  who  told  the  story  of  his  fate.  This  account 
was  repeated  to  me  three  several  times  word  for  word,  and  neither  of  the 
relaters  ever  knew  the  fictions  to  which  Tecumthe's  death  has  "iven  use." 


THE   ^YINNEBAGOES.  I41 

1827,*  the  Winnebago  War  occurred  in  the  country  around  and 
north  of  Galena,  in  this  State.  The  cause  of  tliis  small  s])e(k  of 
of  war  was  a  great  outrage  committed  by  the  whites  on  the 
Indians,  which  was  of  such  brutality,  that  it  is  ])ainful  to  record. 
Two  keel-boats,  of  the  contractor  to  furnish  provisions  for  the 
troops  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  stopped  at  a  large  camp  of 
the  Winnebago  Indians,  on  the  river  not  far  above  Prairie  du 
Chien.  The  boatman  made  the  Indians  drunk — and,  no  doubt, 
were  so  themselves — when  they  captured  some  si.\  or  seven 
squaws,  who  were  also  drunk.  These  squaws  were  forced  on  the 
boat  for  corrupt  and  brutal  purposes."  [The  words  are  i)ut  in 
Italics  by  the  Governor.]  "But  not  satisfied  with  this  outrage  on 
female  virtue,  the  boatmen  took  the  squaws  with  them  in  the 
boats  to  Fort  Snelling,  and  returned  with  them.  \\Mien  the  Indi- 
ans became  sober,  and  knew  the  injury  done  them  in  this  drlicatc 
point,  they  mustered  all  their  forces,  amounting  to  several  hun- 
dreds, and  attacked  the  boats  in  which  the  squaws  were  confined. 
The  boats  were  forced  to  approach  near  the  shore  in  a  narrow 
pass  of  the  river,t  and  thus  the  infuriated  savages  assailed  one 
boat,  and  permitted  the  other  to  pass  down  in  the  night.  The 
boatmen  were  not  entirely  prepared  for  the  attack,  although  to 
some  extent  they  were  guarded  against  it.  They  had  procured 
some  arms,  and  were  oil  the  alert  to  some  degree.  The  Indians 
laid  down  in  their  canoes,  and  tried  to  paddle  them  to  the  boat ; 
but  the  whites,  seeing  this,  fired  their  muskets  on  those  in  the 
canoes.  It  was  a  desperate  and  furious  fight,  for  a  few  moments, 
between  a  good  many  Indians  exposed  in  open  canoes,  and  only 
a  few  boatmen,  protected  to  some  extent  by  their  boats.  One 
boatman,  a  sailor  by  profession  on  the  lakes  and  ocean,  who  had 
been  in  many  battles  with  the  British  during  the  war  of  181 2, 
saved  the  boat  and  those  of  the  crew  who  were  not  killed.  The 
man  was  large  and  strong,  and  possessed  the  courage  of  an 
African  lion.  He  seized  a  part  of  the  setting-pole  of  the  boat, 
which  was  about  four  feet  long,  and  having  on  the  end  a  piece  of 
iron,  which  made  it  weighty,  and  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands 
of  Saucy  Jack,  as  this  champion  is  called.     It  is  stated  that  when 

*  Gov.  Reynolds  errs  as  to  the  time.  The  attack  on  the  keel-boat,  men- 
tioned a  little  further  on,  was  on  the  evening  of  June  26;  and  the  grievances 
which  induced  the  assault,  occurred  some  days  before  tliat.  Vide  ^  vahiablc 
paper  on  the  "Early  Times  in  Wisconsin",  contributed  by  Hon.  James  \\. 
Lockwood,  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  published  in  Vol.  2,  Wis.  Hi.st.  Col. 

+  The  place  was  near  the  mouth  of  Bad- Ax  River;  and  the  attack  wa, 
made  near  sunset.     Judge  Lockwood's  paper,  before  quoted. 


142  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

the  Indians  attempted  to  board  the  boat,  Jack  would  knock 
them  back  into  the  river  as  fast  as  they  approached.  The  boat 
got  fast  on  the  ground,  and  the  whites  seemed  doomed,  but  with 
great  exertion,  courage,  and  hard  fighting,  the  Indians  were 
repelled.  The  savages  killed  several  white  men  and  wounded 
many  more,  leaving  barely  enough  to  navigate  the  boat.  It  is 
said  that  Jack  had  four  Indian  scalps,  which  he  took  from  the 
same  number  of  Indians  that  he  killed  himself  In  the  battle 
the  squaws  escaped  to  their  husbands,  and,  no  doubt,  the  whites 
did  not  try  to  prevent  it.  Thus  conmienced,  and  thus  ended  the 
bloodshed  of  the  Winnebago  War.' 

The  effusion  of  blood  would  not  have  ended  here,  but  for  the 
prompt  measures  taken  by  Gen.  Lewis  Cass  to  prevent  it.  The 
latter,  with  Col.  Thos.  L.  McKenney,  as  commissioners  on  behalf 
of  the  United  States,  were  at  Butte  des  Morts-''  on  a  day  fixed 
for  a  treaty  to  be  held,  in  part,  to  settle  some  matters  as  to  boun- 
daries that  were  "left  undefined  by  the  treaty  of  Aug.  19,  1825, 
at  Prairie  du  Chien",  and  to  establish  the  boundaries  of  "the 
tract  claimed  by  the  former  French  and  British  Governments"  at 
Green  Bay.  We  quote  the  following  from  an  article  on  "Early 
Times  in  Wisconsin",  written  by  Hon.  H.  A.  Tenney:t  "On  the 
day  fixed  for  the  council,  not  an  Indian  appeared.  Alarmed  at 
this  and  other  hostile  signs,  Gen.  Gas.?  rapidly  descended  the 
river  [Wisconsin]  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  where  the  people  had  all 
taken  shelter  in  the  garrison,  j  and  where  he  heard  of  the  attack 
on  the  government  boat.  Hastening  to  Galena,  he  notified  the 
citizens  there  of  their  danger,  and  advised  them  to  build  a  block- 
house for  their  protection.  From  Galena  Gen.  Cass  proceeded  . 
to  Jefferson  Barracks  [a  few  miles  below  St.  Louis].  A  large 
force,  under  Gen.  [Henry]  Atkinson,  immediately  came  up  the 

*  The  "Butte  des  jNIorts"— hill  of  the  dead— near  the  banks  of  Fox  River, 
in  Winnebago  Co.,  Wis.;  a  large  and  apparently  artificial  mound,  said  to 
contain  the  remains  of  Indian  warriors,  killed  in  ancient  battles.  Its  notoriety 
dates  back  of  all  written  history,  however  early,  of  this  part  of  the  Northwest, 
and  gathers  about  it  the  charms  of  many  traditions. 

t  Published  in  Vol.  i,  of  the  "Wisconsin  Historical  Collections." 
X  Fort  Crawford,  Wis.,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  just  above  the 
the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  and  so  named  in  honor  of  Wm.  H.  Crawford, 
Secretary  of  War.  Previous  to  this,  June,  1814,  during  the  war  of  1812, 
Prairie  du  Chien  was  captured,  from  emissaries  of  the  British,  by  an  expedi- 
tion sent  up  the  Mississippi  by  Gov.  Wm.  Clark  of  Missouri,  under  command 
of  Capt.  Z.  Taylor;  and  sixty  of  the  latter's  men,  in  charge  of  Lieut.  Perkins, 
remained  there  and  erected  a  fort,  which  they  named  Fort  Shelby. 


THE   WINNEBAGOES.  1 43 

river  in  boats  as  far  as  the  portage  at  Fort  Winnebago,''  ( Generals 
Dodge  and  Whitesides,  with  companies  of  vohniteers,  following 
along  each  side  on  land,  and  scouring  out  the  lurking  savages. 
A  force  from  Green  Bay  concentrated  on  the  same  spot ;  and  the 
In4ians  beheld,  with  dismay,  a  formidable  army  in  the  midst  of 
their  country.  The  result  was  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  the  giving 
lip  of  Red  Bird  [a  Winnebago  chief],  who  had,  a  year  previou.s, 
massacred  a  family  near  Prairie  du  Chien." 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  on  the  Mississippi  and 
in  Wisconsin,  then  a  part  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  matters 
were  by  no  means  (^uiet  in  northern  Illinois.  The  inhabitants  at 
Fort  Dearborn,  alarmed  at  the  quite  apparent  unfriendly  demeanor 
of  the  Indians  frequenting  that  Post,  and  from  which  the  United 
States  military  forces  had  been  withdrawn,  dispatched  messengers 
to  the  Pottawatomie  village  of  l>ig-Foot,  at  (Geneva  Lake,  to  learn 
the  purposes  of  the  Winnebagoes,  and  ascertain  if  Big-Foot"s 
band  intended  joining  them.  The  report  brought  back  was  not 
favorable,  and  the  excited  citizens,  at  the  suggestion  of  Cnirdon 
S.  Hubbard,  looked  toward  the  ^Vabash  for  assistance.  Accord- 
ingly, Mr.  tlubbard,  leaving  Chicago  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  following  an  Indian  trail,  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty -seven  miles,  through  an  uninhabited  country,  reaclfing 
the  settlements  two  miles  south  of  Danville  in  the  early  afternoon 
of  the  next  day.  Within  the  next  twenty-four  hours,  the  Vermil- 
ion-County Battalion,  as  the  inhabitants  capable  of  bearing  arms 

*  Erected  near  the  head  of  Fox  River,  at  the  Portage,  or  land  carriage, 
between  it  and  the  Wisconsin,  which,  at  the  time  referred  to,  was  right  in 
•  the  heart  of  the  "Winnebago  country".  This  "carrying  place"  is  a  noted 
spot  in  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Northwest.  Here  Father  Mar- 
quette and  Louis  Joliet,  on  the  loth  day  of  June,  1673,  with  the  assistance  of 
their  two  friendly  Miami  guides,  transported  their  canoes  a  distance  of  "twenty- 
seven  hundred  paces"  from  the  scarcely-discernible  channel  of  Fox  River, 
choked  as  it  was  with  a  rank  and  tangled  growth  of  wild  oats,  to  the  broad 
current  of  the  Wisconsin;  down  which  they  voyaged,  says  the  good  father, 
"alone  in  an  unknown  country,  in  the  hands  of  Providence";  and  we  may 
add,  on  a  journey  that  immortalized  him  aij  unsought  fame,  and  first  gave  the 
Mississippi  River  the  name  it  bears,  and  (to  that  part  of  the  stream  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas)  a  place  in  geography.  Mrs.  John  11.  Kinzie,  in  her 
"Wau-Bun"— a  volume  replete  with  valuable  historical  matter  entertainingly 
arranged,  relating  to  "The  Early  Day  in  the  Northwest  "-gives  a  beautiful 
sketch  'jf  Fort  Winnebago,  drawn  by  her  own  pencil,  as  it  appeared  m  1S31, 
while  she  resided  there,  her  husband  having  charge  of  the  Indian  agency  at 
that  station. 


144  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

were  called,  were  assembled  at  Butler's  Point,  the  then  county- 
seat;  and  a  volunteer  force  of  fifty  men  organized;  and  on  the 
next  day-shaving  dispersed,  in  the  meantime,  to  their  homes  to 
cook  up  m-e-days'  rations — were  on  their  way  to  Fort  Dearborn, 
where  they  and  Mr.  Hubbard  arrived  on  the  seventh  day  after 
his  departure.  Several  days  later,  word  was  received  of  the  suc- 
cess of  Gen.  Cass'  movements,  and  the  termination  of  hostilities.* 

In  the  so-called  Black-Hawk  War,  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  in 
1832,  "it  was  feared",  say  Judge  Jas.  Hall  and  Col.  Thos.  L. 
McKenney,  in  their  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North 
America,  "that  the  Winnebagoes,  inhabiting  the  country  immedi- 
ately north  of  the  hostile  Indians,  would  unite  with  them,  and, 
forming  a  powerful  combination,  would  devastate  the  defenceless 
before  our  Government  could  adopt  measures  for  its  relief  The 
opportunity  Avas  a  tempting  one  to  a  savage  tribe  naturally  dis- 
posed to  war,  and  always  prepared  for  its  most  sudden  exigen- 
cies; and  many  of  the  Winnebagoes  were  eager  to  rush  into  the 
contest.  But  the  policy  of  Naw-caw  was  decidedly  pacific,  and 
his  conduct  was  consistant  with  his  judgment  and  his  professions. 
To  keep  his  followers  from  temptation,  as  well  as  to  place  them 
under  the  eye  of  an  agent  of  our  Government,  he  encamped  with 
thern  near  the  agency,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  [John  H.]  Kinzie, 
expressing  on  all  occasions  his  disapprobation  of  the  war,  and 
his  determination  to  avoid  all  connection  with  those  engaged  in 
it.  The  Indian  tribes  are  often  divided  into  parties,  having  their 
respective  leaders,  who  alone  can  control  their  partisans  in  times 
of  excitement.  So  among  the  Winnebagoes;  a  few  restless  and 
unprincipled  individuals,  giving  loose  to  their  propensity  for  blood 
and  plunder  by  joining  the  war  ])arties,  while  the  great  body  of 
the  tribe  remained  at  peace,  under  the  influence  of  their  vener- 
able chief" 

Immediately  on  the  close  of  the  Black-Hawk  War,  by  a  treaty 
concluded  Sept.  15,  1832,  at  Ft.  Armstrong,  at  Rock  Island,  III, 
the  Winnebagoes  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  of  their  lands 
lying  south  and  east  of  the  Wisconsin  River  and  the  Fox  River 
of  Green  Bay;  and,  by  a  subsecjuent  treaty  concluded  Nov.  i, 
1837,  they  parted  with  the  residue  of  their  lands  lying  east  of 
the  Mississippi.  By  the  terms  of  this  last  treaty,  they  were  to 
remove  beyond  the  river  named  within  eight  months  thereafter, 
an  engagement  they  did  not  comply  with  until  some  three  years 

*  A  more  detailed  account  of  the  Winnebago  War,  as  it  manifested  itself 
in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago,  will  be  found  in  Number  Ten  of  Fergus'  Historical 
Series. 


THE   WINNEBAGOES. 


145 


after.  After  being  unceremoniously  changed  about  from  one 
reservation  to  another,  by  the  United  States  Covernment,  with 
little  regard  for  its  solemn  stipulations,  to  suit  cai)rices  aiij^avarice 
of  the  ever-encroaching  white  immigration,  we  lind  the  W'inneba- 
goes,  in  1865,  settled  (let  us  trust  permanently)  on  the  (Jmaha 
Reservation  in  Nebraska,  where  the  superintendent  of  Indian 
affairs,  in  his  report  for  that  year,  says  of  them:  "This  tribe  is 
characterized  by  frugality,  thrift,  and  industry  to  an  extent 
unequaled  by  any  other  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  Northwest. 
Loyal  to  the  Government,  and  peaceful  toward  their  neighbors, 
they  are  entitled  to  the  fostering  care  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment." It  seems  that  the  shifting  of  them  about  for  a  number  of 
preceding  years  had  been  their  means  of  education  and  religious 
instruction;  for,  in  December,  1864,  we  find  they  addressed  the 
President  as  follows:  "It  is  our  sincere  desire  to  have  acain 
established  among  us  such  schools  as  we  see  in  operation  among 
your  Omaha  children.  Father,  as  soon  as  you  find  a  permanent 
home  for  us,  will  you  not  do  this  for  us?  And,  father,  as  we 
w^OLild  like  our  children  taught  the  Christian  religion  as  before, 
we  would  like  our  schools  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  And  last,  father,  to  show  you 
our  sincerity,  we  desire  to  have  set  apart  for  its  establishment, 
erection,  and  support,  all  of  our  school  funds,  and  whatever  more 
is  necessar}'."' 

Again;  the  Government  agent,  in  his  report  for  1866,  says, 
concerning  the  Winnebagoes:  "There  has  returned  to  the  tribe, 
within  the  few  past  weeks,  about  one  hundred  soldiers,  who  have 
served,  with  credit  to  themselve'and  to  their  tribe,  in  defence  of 
their  county.  I  consider  the  Winnebagoes  one  of  the  best  tribes 
of  Indians  in  the  country,  and,  with  proper  treatment,  they  will 
soon  become  a  self-sustaining,  prosperous  people.""  In  1863,  their 
fighting  men  were  estimated  at  three  hundred  and  sixty.  The 
census  report  of  their  numbers  in  1865  gave  them  nineteen  hun- 
dred, omitting  those  still  remaining  in  Wisconsin.  "They  are  a 
vigorous,  athletic  race,  and  received  from  the  Sioux  the  name  of 
0-toN-ka,  which  is  said  to  mean  'the  large  and  strong  people'.'"* 
They  have  given  a  name  to  a  lake,  a  fort,  a  town,  and  county  in 
Wisconsin,  and  to  a  county  in  northern  Illinois. 

*  Geo.  Gale's  "Upper  Mississippi." 


146    ,  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 


THE  FOX  AND  SACS. 

The  Foxes  called  themselves  Mosk-wah-ha-kee,  a  name  com- 
pounded from  the  two  words  in  their  language,-  Mosk-wah  [red] 
and  Ha-kee  [earth],  Red  Earths,  or,  they  of  the  Red  Earth. 
Their  totem  or  armorial  device  was  a  fox,''"  and  it  is,  doubtless, 
from  this  circumstance  that  they  were  called  Outagamies  (accord- 
ing to  French  orthography)  or  Foxes  by  neighboring  tribes,  and 
the  signification  of  which  French  writers  have  preserved  in  the 
translation  '■'Les  Reiiards".  Like  the  Illinois,  Miamis,  and  Kick- 
apoos,  already  treated  of,  the  Foxes  were,  also,  a  subdivision  of 
the  great  Algonquin  family;  and  their  differences  in  dialect,  man- 
ners, and  customs  from  those  of  other  tribes  of  the  same  stock, 
were  caused  by  the  differences  of  their  surroundings. t 

We  first  hear  of  the  Foxes  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario, 
engaged  in  an  unnatural  alliance  with  the  Iroquois  in  the  exter- 
minating war  then  being  waged  by  the  latter  upon  the  Hurons; 
and,  "by  attempting  to  keep  terms  with  both  parties,  pleased 
neither.  They  soon  drew  upon  themselves  the  enmity  of  their 
kindred  tribes,  and  the  execrations  of  the  French,  who  heaped 
ui)on  them  and  their  vacillating  policy  every  term  of  reproach. 
And  later  they  were  driven  from  old  Toronto  through  the  straits 
of  Niagara  to  Detroit.''!  From  Detroit  they  seem  to  have  run 
the  gauntlet  of  neighboring  and  hostile  tribes  around  the  shores  of 
Lake  Huron  to  Mackinac,  an(Ffrom  thence  to  the  river  which 
has  ever  since  borne  their  name,  where,  near  its  debouchment 
with  the  southern  extremity  of  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  they  found 
a  refuge  from  their  enemies  that  was  only  temporary  at  best. 
Here  we  leave  them,  for  the  moment,  to  notice  their  brethren, 
the  Sacs,  and  give  the  brief  account,  which  meager  historical 
mention  has  preserved  of  the  latter,  down  to  the  period  of  time 

*  Official  report  of  M.  de  la  Chauvignerie  on  the  "  Indian  Tribes  connected 
with  the  Government  of  Canada,  the  Warriors  and  armorial  bearings  of  each 
Nation,  1736." 

t  "The  Foxes  speak  a  well-characterized  dialect  of  the  Algonquin;  a  not- 
able differenee  being  the  substitution  of  the  letter  1  wherein  the  Chippewas- 
use  the  letter  n."  Address  (and  note  appended)  of  Hon.  Henry  R.  School- 
craft on  "The  Origin  and  Character  of  the  North  American  Indians",  etc.^ 
etc.      Delivered  before  the  Historical  Society  of  Michigan. 

X  Schoolcraft's  same  Address. 


THE    FOX    AND   SACS.  '      147 

when  the  two  tribes  again  met,  this  time  upon  the  waters  of  Vo\ 
River,  Wisconsin,  and  united  in  a  bond  of  fellowship  that  was 
never  after  broken.  • 

Ousakis-  Sakys;  Sauks;  O-sauk-ies;  Ou-sa-ki-uek  [the  iit-k 
giving  the  plural  number  to  the  noun];  0-sau-kee;  and,  by  cus- 
tom of  modern  writers,  abbreviated  to  Sacs,  are  the  appellations 
by  which  this  people  were  known.  The  name  seems  to  have 
originated  with  the  tribe,  and  to  have  been  derived  from  two 
words  in  their  tongue,  I'iz.:  Os-sa-wah  [yellow]  and  Ha-kee 
[earth  or  land];  which  is  to  say,  the  Yellow  F:arths,  or  they  of 
the  Yellow  Land.  French  writers  have  very  little  to  .say  of  the 
Sacs — and  for  the  matter  of  that,  the  Foxes,  too— prior  to  the 
time  when  they  effected  a  lodgment  in  Wisconsin. 

The  great  chief.  Black  Hawk,  distinguished  alike  as  a  warrior 
and  a  historian,  well  learned  in  the  traditions  of  his  tribe,  in  his 
autobiography  gives  the  following  early  account  of  his  people:* 

"I  was",  says  Black  Hawk,  ''born  at  the  Sac  village,  on  Rock 
River,  in  the  year  1767,  and  am  now  in  my  67th  year.  My 
great-grandfather,  Na-na-ma-kee,  or  Thunder  (according  to  the 
tradition  given  me  by  my  father,  Py-e-oa),  was  born  in  the  vici- 
nity of  Montreal,  where  the  Great  Spirit  first  placed  the  Sac 
nation,  and  insjnred  him  with  a  belief  that,  at  the  end  of  four 
years,  he  would  see  a  7C'/2ifc  man  [alluding  to  the  coming  of  the 
French]  who  would  be  to  him  a  father."  *  *  *  .  "''After  a 
long  time,  the  British  overpowered  the  French  (the  two  nations 
being  at  war),  drove  them  away  from  Quebec,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  it  themselves.t  The  diflerent  tribes  of  Indians  around 
our  nation  envying  our  people,  united  their  forces  against  them, 
and  succeeded,  by  their  great  strength,  to  drive  them  to  I\Ion- 
treal,  and  from  thence  to  Mackinac.  Here  our  peojjle  first  met 
our  British  father,  who  furnished  tliem  with  goods. ;{:     Their  ene- 

*  The  contents  of  this  little  book  was  dictated  by  Black  IIa«k  liinisclf,  in 
1833,  to  Antoine  Le  Clair,  U.  .S.  Interpreter  for  the  .Sacs  and  Fo.xe.s  at  Rock 
Island,  Illinois,  in  presence  of  J-  Ij-  Patterson  of  the  same  place,  and  by  the 
latter  written  down  at  the  time,  and  by  whom  it  was,  llie  next  year,  1834, 
copyrighted  and  published. 

t  lilack  Hawk  doubtless  refers  here  to  the  surrender  of  (^)aebec  by  M.  de 
Champlain  to  the  British  fleet  commanded  by  the  brothers  Sir  David,  Louis, 
and  Thomas  Kertk,  or  Kirke,  in  1629. 

X  'laken  in  the  sense  that  the  Fox  and  Sacs  -ivent  to  Mackinac  for  the  pur- 
poses of  barter;  Black  Hawk's  statement  as  to  meeting  British  traders  there 
is  confirmed  by  official  documenis,  both  French  and  ICnglish.  Otherwise,  and 
owing  to  an  infirmity  common  to  a  race  having  no  written  records  and  giving 


148  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

mies  still  pursued  them,  and  drove  them  to  different  ])laces  on 
the  lake,  until  they  made  a  village  near  Green  Bay,  on  what  is 
now  called  S(7C  River,  having  derived  its  name  from  this  circum- 
stance. Here  they  held  a  council  with  the  Foxes,  and  a  national 
treaty  of  friendship  and  alliance  was  concluded  upon.  The 
Foxes  abandoned  their  village  and  joined  the  Sacs.  This  ar- 
rangement being  mutually  obligatory  upon  both  parties,  as  nei- 
ther was  sufficiently  strong  to  meet  their  enemies  with  any  hope 
of  success,  they  soon  became  as  one  band  or  nation  of  people." 
On  their  way  up  the  lakes,  the  Sacs  remained  in  Northeastern 
Michigan  a  sufficient  time  to  give  their  name  to  Saginaw  Bay,  as 
the  word  is  now  spelled;  the  orthography  of  early  French  writers 
being  Sac-e-nong  [the  place  of  the  Sacs] ;  Sak-i-nau ;  Sag-i-nau, 
in  all  wliich  its  derivation  is  more  nearly  preserved.  They  could 
not,  however,  have  occupied  that  vicinity  long  enough  to  make 
it  "the  principal  seat  of  their  power",  as  affirmed  by  Judge 
James  Hall  and  Col.  Thos.  L.  McKinney,  in  their  "History  of 
the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America"';  elsewise  French  authori- 
ties would  contain  a  more  extended  mention  of  them  in  this  con- 
nection.'" 

little  care  to  chronology,  there  is  a  confusion  as  (0  dates.  Traders  from  the 
J3ritisli  Colony  of  New  York  were  at  Mackinac  with  Indian  goods  in  16S5, 
where  they  made  so  profitable  a  venture  as  to  invite  a  larger  expedition  in  the 
fall  of  1686.  This  last,  the  following  year,  paddling  their  canoes  up  the  lakes 
by  way  of  Niagara,  in  two  detachments,  one  commanded  by  Roseboom,  an 
Albany  Dutchman,  in  advance,  the  other  by  McGregory,  were  intercepted 
and  captured  by  the  watchful  French  and  their  Indian  allies;  the  former,  on 
Lake  Huron,  by  Durantaye,  and  McGregory's  party  by  LaSalle's  lieutenant, 
the  Chevalier  Henry  de  Tonty,  on  Lake  Erie,  "at  the  distance",  says  Tonty, 
"of  twenty  leagues  from  Niagara".  The  immediate  building  of  a  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Niagara  River,  and  the  establishment  of  a  similar  defence  near 
Detroit  shortly  after,  effectually  barred  British  subjects  out  of  the  Western 
country.  Fn/e  "Tonty's  Account,  etc.,  of  LaSalle",  "Francis  Parkman's 
Frontenac",  and  "New  France  under  Louis  XIV.",  and  authorities  there 
cited.  It  will  be  seen  further  on  that  the  Jesuit  fathers  make  mention  of  the 
Foxes  and  Sacs  as  living  about  the  upper  extremity  of  Green  Bay  in  1666, 
some  twenty  years  before  the  breaking  up  of  the  British  trade  upon  the  upper 
lakes. 

*  Professor  Schoolcraft  and  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callyhan— the  able  editor  of  the 
Documentary,  as  well  "The  Colonial  History  of  New  York" — both  adepts 
in  this  special  field  of  enquiry,  concur  with  the  traditions  given  by  Black 
Hawk  of  his  people  as  having  formerly  lived  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake 
Ontario.      Dr.  John  Gilmary  Shea — of  e<pial  high  standard  authority  in  the 


THE   F<.)X    AND    SACS.  149 

The  years  1669-1670  bring  the  Fox  and  Sac  fairly  within  the 
ranije  of  reHable  liistorical  mention,  ahhough  thev  had  been 
referred  to,  two  years  before,  in  definite  terms  in  the  "Jesuit 
Relations''  of  1666  and  1667.  Father  Claude  Allouez,  who  had 
already,  early  in  December,  1666,  established  a  mission  at  the 
mixed  village  of  Ottawas,  Pottawatomies,  F^oxes  and  Sacs,  near 
the  site  of  the  i)resent  city  of  Cireen  Bay,  calling  it  "The  Mis- 
sion of  St.  Francis  Xavier",  for  the  reason  that  he  said  his  first 
mass  there  on  the  festival  day  of  that  saint*  In  a  pastoral 
letter  sent  from  this  mission  to  his  rev'd  father  superior,  says : 
"The  i6th  of  April  [1670],  I  embarked  to  go  and  commence 
the  mission  of  the  Oiiiagamis,  a  people  well  known  in  all  these 
])arts.+  ^Ve  were  lying  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  at  the  entrance 
of  River  of  the  Puants  [Fox  River],  which  we  have  named  the 

whole  department  of  aboriginal  history — on  the  contrary,  dissents  and  says  he 
"can  find  nothing  in  early  French  writers  to  support  the  assertion."  And 
that  "the  Sacs  certainly  were  never  much  to  the  eastward  of  Lake  St.  Clair." 
Vide  :i  valuable  paper  on  "The  Indian  Tribes  of  Wisconsin",  contributed  by 
him  to  and  published  in  Vol.  III.,  of  the  "Historical  Collections  of  that 
State".  This  conflict  of  opinion  may  be  readily  reconciled  on  the  theory 
that  the  absence  of  mention  of  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  as  dwelling  along  Lake 
Ontario,  by  early  French  writers,  may  be  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  may 
have  been  referred  to  under  some  other  name,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Ojeb- 
ways  or  Chippeways  about  Lake  Superior.  It  is  notorious  that  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  whose  iirincipal  missions  were  in  that  quarter,  in  their  many  enumer- 
ations of  the  surrounding  Indian  nations,  say  the  "Chippeways  are  never  once 
mentioned  by  i/iat  name, "  although  they  were  the  most  numerous,  and  the 
tribe  with  which  the  fathers  had  most  to  do,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  whose 
country  their  sacred  altars  were  erected.  Vide  Albert  Gallatin's  "  Synopsis  of 
the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America". 

*  Father  Claude  Allouez's  Journal  and  Dr.  Shea's  Catholic  Missions. 

+  Hall  and  McKinney,  in  their  "History  of  N.  A.  Indians",  not  having 
access  to  reliable  dala,  erroneously  state  that  a/ier  their  defeat  and  almost 
destruction  near  Detroit,  already  referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  the  Kickapoos, 
"the  remainder  of  the  Foxes,  with  the  Sauks,  migrated  to  the  country  be- 
tween Cireen  Bay  and  the  Mississippi,  and  established  themselves  upon  Fo.\ 
River."  The  official  report  of  the  officer,  IJuisson,  who  commanded  the 
French  and  their  Indian  allies,  shows  that  this  attack  upon  Detroit  took  place 
in  1 712;  while,  as  is  clearly  seen  from  Father  Allouez's  letter,  the  Foxes  and 
Sacs  were  "a  people  well  known"  about  Green  Bay  and  up  Fox  River  nearly 
a  half  of  a  century  before  the  time  assigned  by  Hall  and  McKinney  as  the 
date  of  their  migration  thither. 


I50  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

Sf.  Francis;  in  passing  we  saw  clouds  of  swans,  bastards,  and 
ducks;  the  savages  take  them  in  nets  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 
where  they  catch  as  many  as  fifty  in  a  night;  this  game  in  tlie 
autumn  seek  the  wild-rice  that  the  wind  has  shaken  off  in  the 
month  of  September.  The  seventeenth,  we  Avent  up  the  River 
St.  Francis,  which  is  two  and  sometimes  three  arpents  wide. "' 
After  having  advanced  four  leagues,  we  found  the  village  of  the 
savages  named  Sakl^  who  began  a  work  that  merits  well  to  have 
its  place  here.  From  one  side  of  the  river  to  the  other,  they  have 
made  a  barricade,  planting  great  stakes,  two  fathoms  from  the 
water,  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is,  as  it  were,  a  bridge  above  [the 
stream]  for  the  fishers,  who,  by  the  aid  of  a  little  bow-net,  easily 
take  sturgeons  and  all  other  kinds  of  fish  which  this  barricade 
stops,  while  it  permits  the  water  to  flow  between  the  stakes. 
They  call  this  device  Mitch-i-can,  and  make  use  of  it  in  the 
spring  and  a  part  of  the  summer.  The  eighteenth,  we  made  the 
portage  which  they  call  Ke-kal-ing  [the  first  or  little  rapids  of 
Fox  River];  our  sailors  drew  the  canoe  through  the  rapids;  while 
I  walked  along  the  bank  of  the  river,  where  I  found  appletrees 
and  vine-stocks  in  abundance. 

"The  nineteenth,  our  sailors  ascended  the  [second]  rapids,  by 
using  poles,  for  two  leagues.  I  went  by  land  as  far  as  the  other 
portage,  which  they  call  Ou-ko-ci-ti-ming,  which  is  to  say,  the 
highway.  We  observed  this  day  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  predicted 
by.the  astrologers,  which  lasted  from  mid-day  until  two  o'clock. 
The  third,  or  near  it,  of  the  body  of  the  sun  api)eared  eclipsed; 
the  other  two-thirds  formed  a  crescent.  We  arrived  in  the  even- 
ing at  the  entrance  of  the  Lake  of  the  Puants  [Lake  Winnebago], 
which  we  have  called  Lake  Francis;  it  is  about  twelve  leagues 
long  and  four  wide;  it  is  situated  from  northeast  to  southwest, 
and  abounds  in  fish;  but  is  uninhabited  on  account  of  the  Nad- 
oue-cis  [Sioux]  who  are  here  dreaded. t     The  twentieth,  which 

*'  The  arpent  is,  primarily,  a  French  acre  of  land,  the  sides  of  which  arc  in 
in  length  one  hundred  and  eighty  Paris  feet,  equal  to  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  feet  and  nearly  three  inches  English  measurement. 

+  This  fact,  stated  by  Father  AUouez,  illustrates  the  extent  to  which  the 
Dak-co-tas  pushed  their  incursions,  for  game  and  scalps,  eastward.  Indeed, 
they  claimed  as  their  exclusive  hunting-grounds  the  territory  clear  up  to  the 
shores  of  Lake  Superior  and  Green  Bay;  and  the  history  of  the  Ojebways, 
not  within  the  scope  of  this  volume,  and  who  made  common  cause  with  the 
Fox  and  Sac,  is  but  the  story  of  a  continuous  warfare  of  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  duration  against  the  Sioux,  which  resulted  finally  in  driving 
Ihem  permanently  westward  beyond  the  Mississippi. 


THE   FOX   AND   SACS.  '  131 

was  on  Sunday,  1  said  mass,  after  having  navigated  five  or  six 
leagues  in  the  lake;  after  which  we  arrived  in  a  river  that  conies 
from  a  lake  [Pahwaikan  Lake]  of  wild-rice,  into  which  we  came, 
and  at  the  foot  of  which  we  found  the  river  [Fox]  which  leads, 
on  the  one  side,  to  the  Outagamis,  and  on  the  other,  the  stream 
[^Volf  River]  that  leads  to  the  Machkoutenck  [Mascoutins].  We 
entered  the  former,  Avhich  comes  from  a  lake  where  we  saw  two 
wild  turkeys  perched  on  a  tree,  male  and  female,  exactly  like, 
in  size,  color,  and  cry,  those  of  France.  The  bustards,  ducks, 
swans,  and  geese  are  of  great  numbers  in  all  these  lakes  and 
rivers,  attracted  thither  by  the  wild-rice,  which  is  their  food. 
There  is  also  to  be  found  here  large  and  small  deer,  bears,  and 
beavers  in  sufficient  numbers.  The  twenty-fourth,  after  many 
turns  and  windings  in  the  different  lakes  and  rivers,*  we  arrived 
at  the  village  of  the  Outagamis. 

"This  nation  is  renowned  for  being  numerous.  They  have 
more  than  four  hundred  men  bearing  arms.  The  number  of 
women  and  children  is  greater  on  account  of  jjolygamy  whicli 
exists  among  them — each  man  having  commonly  four  wi\-es,  some 
of  them  six,  and  others  as  high  as  ten.  *  *  '""  These  sav- 
ages have  retreated  to  these  parts  to  escape  the  Iroquois;  they 
are  settled  in  an  excellent  country;  the  soil,  which  is  here  black, 
yields  them  Indian-corn  in  abundance.  In  the  winter,  they  live 
by  the  chase;  about  the  end  of  it  they  return  to  their  cabins,  and 
there  live  on  Indian-corn,  which  they  had  put  in  cache  [the  name 
of  pits  prepared  in  the  ground  for  that  purpose]  in  autumn,  and 
Avhich  they  season  with  fish.  They  have  a  fort  in  the  midst  ot 
their  forest,  where  their  cabins  of  thick  bark  are,  to  resist  all 
kinds  of  attacks.  In  traveling  they  lodge  themselves  with  mats. 
They  are  at  war  with  the  Nadiouecious,  their  neighbors.t     They 

*  For  many  miles  below  the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin,  Fox  River  expands 
into  several  little  lakes;  and  the  crooked  meanders  of  the  stream  through  the 
prairies  well  justifies  the  tradition  of  the  Winnebagoes,  related  by  Mrs.  Kin- 
2ie  in  her  "  Wau-bun  ",  concerning  its  origin.  A  great  serpent,  living  in  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi,  took  a  notion  to  visit  the  lakes;  he  left  his  trail 
where  he  crossed  over  the  prairie,  which,  collecting  the  rains  as  they  fell  from 
heaven,  in  time  became  Fox  River!  And,  that  lady  adds,  "the  little  lakes 
along  its  course  were,  probably,  the  places  where  he  flourished  about  at  night 
in  his  uneasy  slumbers." 

t  Nadioue-cious,  or  Nadous-sioux,  was  in  general  terms  a  word  signifying' 
enemies,  and  was  especially  applied,  by  all  the  westward  tribes,  to  the  Daco- 
tas  (as  the  latter  have  always  called  themselves);  and  by  common  custom  of 
writers  in  later  times,  only  the  terminal  part  of  the  word,  Sioux,  is  used. 


152  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

do  not  make  use  of  canoes;  for  this  reason  they  do  not  make 
^var  upon  the  Iroquois,  although  they  are  often  killed  by  them. 
They  are  very  much  disparaged,  and  reputed  by  other  nations  as 
penurious,  avaricious,  thievish,  and  quarrelsome.  They  have  a 
small  idea  of  the  French  since  two  traders  in  beaver-skins  have 
appeared  among  them.  If  they  had  conducted  themselves  there 
as  they  ought,  1  would  have  had  less  trouble  to  give  these  poor 
people  other  ideas  of  the  French  nation,  whom  they  began  to 
esteem  since  I  explained  to  them  the  principal  and  only  motive 
which  brought  me  among  them."* 

The  Foxes  and  Sacs  had  no  more  than  secured  a  firm  lodg- 
ment in  their  fortified  villages  in  Wisconsin,  until  we  find  their 
marauding  parties  stirring  up  mischief  in  every  direction.  One 
of  these,  October  28,  1679,  struck  LaSalle,  who,  on  his  voyage 
of  exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  had  navigated  the  western 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and,  reaching  its  southern  extremity, 
was  compelled,  by  stress  of  weather,  to  land  his  canoes  upon  the 
sand-hills  not  a  great  way  east  of  South-Chicago.  LaSalle,  see- 
ing a  footprint,  enjoined  his  men  to  be  on  their  guard  and  to 
make  no  noise.  Says  Father  Hennepin  (who  is  the  historian  of 
this  expedition — from  the  time  of  its  organization  at  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  as  Toronto,  Canada,  was  then  called,  in  the  fall  of  1678, 
until  the  time  of  its  abandonment  at  the  foot  of  Peoria  Lake, 
Illinois,  early  in  January,  1680):  "All  of  our  men  obeyed  for  a 
time,  but  one  of  them,  perceiving  a  bear,  could  not  restrain  him- 
self from  firing  his  gun  at  the  animal,  which,  being  killed,  rolled 
from  top  to  bottom  of  the  mountain  [as  he  calls  the  sand-hill]  to 
the  very  foot  of  our  cabins.  The  report  of  the  gun  discovered 
to  us  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  Indians  of  the  nation  of  the 
Outonagamies,  living  near  the  extremity  of  the  Bay  of  the  Puants, 
and  who  were  cabined  in  our  vicinity.''  That  LaSalle,  to  guard 
against  surprises,  placed  a  sentinel  over  his  upturned  canoes, 
under  which  he  had  sheltered  his  goods  against  the  rain.     Not- 

*  It  is  difficult  to  locate,  with  any  degree  of  certainty,  the  site  of  the  forti- 
fied village  of  the  Fo.xes,  visited  by  Father  Allouez.  From  the  statement  in 
his  journal  of  his  having  passed  through  several  of  the  lakes  or  expansions  of 
Fox  River  before  reaching  the  town,  it  may  be  assumed  that  it  was  situated 
not  a  great  way  northeast  of  Portage  City,  and  probably  in  Marquette  County, 
Wisconsin.  It  could  not  have  been  in  the  near  vicinity  of  the  Portage;  or 
else  the  Father's  journal— so  replete  with  details  of  the  topography  of  the 
country  through  which  he  traveled,  as  well  that  laying  adjacent  to  his  route — 
would  have  contained  some  reference  to  the  Portage,  and,  more  than  all,  to 
the  Wisconsin  River  flashing  its  broad  current  onward  to  the  Mississippi. 


THE   FOX    AND    SACS.  1 55 

Avithstanding  these  precautions,  thirty  of  these  Foxes,  under  the 
dark  cover  of  a  rainy  night,  sneaked  along  on  their  belhes,  one 
behind  the  other,  making,  as  it  were,  a  chain  from  their  comrades 
stationed  at  a  safe  distance  to  the  canoes,  from  which  they  passed 
their  stolen  plunder  backward  from  hand  to  hand.  The  negli- 
gent sentinel  finally  aroused  the  camp  to  arms;  which  stopped 
further  depletion  ot  the  canoes.  The  rogues,  finding  themselves 
discovered,  their  spokesman  called  out  that  "he  was  a  friend." 
In  answer  he  was  told  "that  it  was  an  unseasonable  hour,  and 
that  people  did  not  come  in  that  way  by  night  except  to  steal  or 
kill  those  who  were  not  on  their  guard.  He  replied  that,  in  truth, 
the  shot  that  had  been  fired  had  made  his  countrymen  all  think 
that  it  was  a  party  of  Iroquois,  their  enemies,  as  the  other  Indi- 
ans, their  neighbors,  did  not  use  such  fire-arms,  and  that  they 
had  accordingly  advanced  with  the  intent  of  killing  them;  but 
having  discovered  that  they  were  Frenchmen,  whom  they  regarded 
as  their  brethren,  the  impatience  which  they  felt  to  see  them  had 
prevented  their  waiting  for  daylight  to  visit  us  and  to  smoke  in 
our  calumet  with  us,  which  is  the  ordinary  complement  of  these 
Indians  and  the  greatest  mark  of  aftection."'  Nothing  short  of 
LaSalle's  skilful,  prompt,  and  daring  measures  would  have  saved 
his  party  from  wholesale  robbery  and  total  destruction.  Feign- 
ing assurance  of  the  Foxes"  friendly  intentions,  until  morning, 
when,  with  pistol  in  hand,  he  seized  one  of  their  braves,  and — 
through  another  whom  he  captured  and  released — notified  the 
band  that  he  would  kill  him  unless  restitution  of  the  stolen  pro- 
perty was  made.  The  Foxes  would  have  complied  on  the  spot, 
but  for  the  dilemma  they  found  themselves  in  from  the  circum- 
stance that  among  the  property  taken  was  the  coat  of  LaSalle"s 
attendant,  which  they,  in  making  a  fair  division  of  the  spoils,  had 
torn  in  pieces  and  cut  ofl:'  the  buttons.  Therefore  they  resolved 
to  rescue  their  comrade  at  the  hazard  of  a  fight.  They  advanced 
in  full  force  upon  the  camp  of  LaSalle,  Avho  boldly  went  out  to 
meet  them,  his  men  having  blankets  half  rolled  about  their  left 
arms  as  a  shield  against  their  enemies'  arrows.  The  savages 
wavered;  and  having  no  stomach  for  an  encounter  upon  a  lair 
field  in  the  glare  of  daylight,  a  parley  ensued.  They  agreed  to 
give  back  all  except  the  coat,  and  to  pay  for  that. 

The  bad  name  of  the  Foxes  among  their  neighbors  clung  to 
them  in  later  times:  and  Judge  James  Hall,  drawing  his  conclu- 
sions from  sources  reviewed  while  preparing  his  volumes  on  the 
North  American  Indians,  fitly  characterizes  them  as  "always  [the] 
restless  and  discontented  Tshmaelites  of  the  lakes:  their  hand 
aofainst  everv  man.  and  everv  man's  hand  against  them."     Ol  all 


154  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

the  Western  Algonquin  tribes  they  alone  (and  their  immediate 
kinsman,  the  Kickapoos)  were  the  solitary  exception,  in  their 
irreconcilable  enmity  toward  the  French,  who— barring  the  single 
instance  during  a  brief  interval  of  the  French  Colonial  War, 
where  twenty  Foxes  and  thirty- three  Sacs,  influenced,  probably, 
out  of  motives  of  plunder,  or  a  personal  regard  for  the  Canadian 
traders  who  recruited  them,  assisted  in  the  capture  of  Forts 
George  and  William  Henry — had  no  jjermanent  peace  and  never 
any  alliance  with  them.  The  fur- trade  with  tribes  along  the 
upper  Mississippi  had  no  more  than  been  fairly  established,  until 
the  Foxes  effectually  blockaded  its  passage  through  their  country 
by  way  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  by  far  the  most  feasible 
route,  and  compelled  the  courenrs  de  bois  to  take  the  more  cir- 
cuitous and  difficult  one  around  the  south  and  western  shore  of 
Lake  Superior.* 

We  have  seen  from  official  documents  referred  to  in  the  chap- 
ter on  the  Kickapoost  that,  in  1694,  the  Foxes,  fearing  the  Sioux 
would  come  and  seize  their  village,  meditated  a  migration  to  the 
Wabash.  Three  years  later,  Aug.  29th,  1697,  M.  de  la  Motte 
Cadillac — illustrious  for  eminent  services  other  than  that  of  being 
the  layer  of  the  foundation  of  Fort  Ponchartrain,  in  1701,  in  the 
present  city  of  Detroit — arrived  at  Montreal  with  several  canoes 
of  French  traders,  and  a  large  delegation  of  Indians  from  the 
upper  lakes,  whose  several  tribes  the  intendant  (as  the  French 
provincial  governor  was  called)  was  trying  to  induce  to  cease 
their  warfare  upon  each  other,  and  join  the  French  in  a  grand 
effort  to  break  the  power  of  the  Iroquois,  the  dreaded  enemy  of 
all.  Four  days  later,  Cadillac  repaired  to  Quebec  with  the  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  and  appeared  with  them  before  the  intendant.  Count 
Frontenac.     Among  the  deputation  was  a  Fox,  who,  on  behalf  of 

*  In  a  lengthy  resume  of  the  occurrences  in  Canada  in  1692-3  (and  of 
which  the  whole  of  the  Northwest  was  then  a  part),  the  crown  is  officially 
advised  that  "  Le  Sueur,  another  voyager  [conreur  de  bois  or  trader],  is  to 
remain  at  Chagouamigon,  and  to  endeavor  to  maintain  the  peace  lately  con- 
cluded between  the  Saulteurs  \i.e.,  the  Ottawas  and  others  living  at  the  Sault 
de  Sainte  Marie]  and  the  Scioux. "  "  This  is  of  the  greatest  consequence,  as  it 
is  now  tlie  sole  pass  by  which  access  can  be  had  to  the  latter  nation,  whose 
trade  is  very  profitable,  the  country  to  the  south  being  occupied  by  the  Foxes 
and  the  Masscoutins,  who  have  already,  several  times,  plundered  the  French 
under  pretence  that  they  were  carrying  ammunition  to  the  Scioux,  their  an- 
cient enemies.  These  frequent  interruptions  would  have  been  punished  ere 
this,  had  we  not  been  occupied  elsewhere. " 

+  Page  1 1 7. 


THE    FOX    AND   SACS.  133 

his  tribe,  addresses  the  intendant  thus:  "AVhal  shall  1  say  to  niv 
father?  I  have  come  all  naked  to  see  him;  I  can  give  no  assist- 
ance; the  Sioux  ties  my  arms;  I  kill  him  because  he  began; 
father,  be  not  angry  with  me  for  doing  so.  I  liave  come  here 
only  to  hear  you  and  execute  your  will."  To  which  Count  Fron- 
tenac  replies:  "Fox!  I  now  speak  to  you.  A'our  young  men 
have  no  sense.  You  have  a  bad  heart,  and  mine  was  beginning 
to  be  worse  disposed  than  yours,  had  you  not  come  to  hear  my 
word  and  do  my  will.  I  had  resolved  to  send  M.  de  la  Motte 
[Cadillac]  with  a  party  of  my  young  men  on  a  visit  to  your  \  11- 
lage;  and  that  would  have  been  unfortunate,  for,  no  doubt,  your 
women  and  children  would  have  been  frightened  by  them.  *  ■'  ■' 
1  am  not  willing  you  should  return  home  naked,  as  you  would  have 
probably  done  if  you  had  not  come  to  see  me.  *  *  *  Here 
are  some  guns,  powder,  and  ball  that  I  give  you.  Make  good 
use  of  them;  not  in  killing  your  allies;  not  in  killing  buftalo  or 
deer;  but  in  killing  the  Jroquois,  who  is  in  much  greater  want  of 
i:)Owder  and  iron  [meaning  guns,  hatchets,  knives,  and  other 
implements  manufactured  from  this  metal].  Remember,  it  is 
7var  alone  that  causes  true  men  to  be  distinguished;  and  that  it 
is  oiuifig  to  7var  that  I,  this  day,  knowji^;//  by  your  name.  Noth- 
ing gives  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  see  the  face  of  a  warrior. 
Here  is  what  I  give  you,  and  you  can  now  depart  as  soon  as 
you  please."  After  the  presents  had  been  distributed,  Frontenac 
added:  "No  more  powder  and  iron  will  be  conveyed  to  the 
Sioux;  and  if  my  young  men  [/.<'.,  subordinates,  traders]  carry 
any  thither,  I  will  punish  them  severely."'^ 

The  Fox  and  Sacs  were  blamed  as  being  the  principals  who 
induced  British  traders  to  come  up  the  lakes;  and  their  hatred 
was  the  more  inflamed  toward  the  French  because  the  latter,  in 
1 701,  erected  a  permanent  garrison  on  the  Detroit  River  in  order, 

*  In  the  diplomacy  of  words,  uttered  to  disguise  rather  tliaii  to  express,  the 
true  sentiments  of  the  speakers,  the  lienors  between  the  Indian  and  the 
Frenchman  were  even.  There  was  no  sincerity  in  eitlier.  Indeed,  we  are 
informed,  further  on  in  the  document  from  which  these  speeches  are  taken. 
that  Frontenac,  expecting  no  peace  with  them,  was  merely  talking  to  gain 
time  to  withdraw  his  traders  out  of  the  reach  of  the  Fo.xes,  having  already 
resolved  not  to  send  any  more  goods  to  their  country.  The  war  with  the 
Sioux  was  a  circumstance  from  which  the  spokesman  of  the  Foxes  could 
frame  a  pretext  for  their  declining  to  let  their  enemies  nearer  home,  alone,  to 
join  in  a  war  upon  the  Iroquois;  and  had  there  been  no  war  at  his  cabin 
doors,  the  wiley  speaker  would  have  as  readily  framed  some  otiier  excuse,  for 
the  conduct  of  his  people,  in  its  stead. 


156  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

among  other  reasons,  to  shut  those  traders  out.  For  several 
years  after,  their  busy  marauding  bands  infested  the  coast  Hne  of 
northern  Ohio  and  eastern  Michigan,  from  the  Maumee  to  Lake 
Huron;  intercej^ting  the  postal-route  communication  with  "the 
Illinois  country;"  plundering  French  traders;  and  harassing  the 
French  settlement,  then  crystallizing  about  the  fort  at  Detroit. 
Affairs  went  on  at  this  rate  for  ten  or  eleven  years,  until  1 7 1 2, 
when  the  Foxes  and  their  brethren,  the  Kickapoos  and  embold- 
ened Mascoutins,  by  the  war  between  England  and  France, 
massed  their  warriors  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  Detroit  and 
driving  the  French  out  of  the  country.  And  they  would  have 
succeeded  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  Indian  allies,  who  hastened 
to  the  succor  of  the  beleaguered  garrison.  What  terrible  retribu- 
tion befell  the  aggressors  in  this  attack  is  shown  in  that  part  of 
the  French  commander's  report  already  quoted.  Father  Charle- 
voix, in  his  "History  of  New  France",*  says:  "They  [the  Iro- 
quois] had  shortly  before  [171 1]  raised  up  against  us  a  new 
enemy  as  brave  as  themselves,  less  politic,  much  liercer,  whom 
we  have  never  been  able  to  tame  or  subdue;  and  who,  like  those 
insects  that  seem  to  have  as  many  lives  as  parts  of  their  body, 
spring  to  life  again,  so  to  say,  after  their  defeat,  and  reduced 
almost  to  a  handful  of  brigands,  appear  everywhere,  aroused  the 
hatred  of  all  the  nations  on  this  continent,  and,  for  the  last 
twenty-five  years  and  more,  have  interrupted  commerce,  and  ren- 
dered the  roads  almost  impracticable  for  more  than  five  hundred 
leagues  around.  These  are  the  Outagamis,  or  commonly  called 
the  Foxes.  *  ""'  -^  They  had  recently  confederated  with  Iro- 
quois, and  had  apparently,  through  them,  just  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  British.  They  had  promised  the  latter  to  burn  the  fort 
of  Detroit,  to  massacre  all  the  French,  and  introduce  British 
troops  into  the  fort,"  etc.  Charlevoix  then  describes  the  siege 
and  its  results,  after  which  he  says :  "  However,  the  Outagamis 
incensed  rather  than  subdued  by  the  severe  loss  sustained  at 
Detroit  in  17  12,  infested  with  robberies  and  filled  with  murders 
not  only  the  neighborhood  of  T/ie  Bay  [Green  Bay],  their  natu- 
ral territory,  but  almost  all  the  routes  communicating  with  the 
remote  colonial  posts,  as  well  as  those  leading  from  Canada  to 
Louisiana.     Except  the  Sioux,  who  often  joined  them,  and  the 

*  We  quote  from  this  most  extended  and  authentic  history  of  the  coloniza- 
tion of  the  French  upon  the  North  American  continent  ever  published,  and 
only  recently  (in  1871)  translated  into  the  English  language  by  Prof.  John 
Gilmary  Shea,  whose  addition  of  copious  foul-notes  to  the  text  has  greatly 
enhanced  its  value. 


THE    FOX    AND    SACS.  13J 

Iroquois,  with  whom  they  had  formed  an  aUiancc  but  wlio  did 
not  seem  to  help  them,  at  least  openly,  all  the  nations  in  com- 
merce with  us  suffered  greatly  from  their  hostilities;  and  there 
was  reason  to  fear  that,  unless  a  remedy  was  jiromptly  applied, 
most  of  them  would  make  terms  with  these  Indians  to  our  detri- 
ment. This  induced  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  [governor-gen- 
eral of  New  France]  to  i)ropose  to  the  neighboring  tribes  that  they 
.should  join  him  in  exterminating  the  common  enemy.  All  con- 
sented, and  the  general  raised  a  party  of  l-'renchmen,  assigning 
the  command  to  Louvigny,  who  was  then  the  kings  lieuten- 
ant at  Quebec.  Many  Indian's  joined  this  conmiandant  on  the 
route,  and  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  eight  hundred 
men,  firmly  resolved  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  as  long  as  an 
Outagamie  was  left  in  Canada.  All  supposed  that  tribe  on  the 
brink  of  utter  destruction;  and  the  tribe  itself  judged  so  too, 
when  it  saw  the  storm  gathering  against  it,  and  they  only  thought 
of  selling  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible.' 

We  here  leave  off  Charlevoix's  account,  and  quote  from  M.  de 
Louvigny's  official  report  of  the  action,  which,  lor  the  first  lime, 
appears  printed  in  a  late  volume  of  the  ''Wisconsin  Historical 
Collections". 

On  reaching  the  ])rincipal  fortified  town  of  the  Foxes — a 
stronghold  on  Fox  River,  Wisconsin,  and  located,  according  to 
Judge  Wm.  H.  Smith  of  that  State,  at  Butte  des  Marts,  or  hill  ot 
the  dead — a  theory,  too,  that  is  sujiported  by  several  traditions 
of  the  Foxes  themselves;  and,  says  Louvigny,  "after  three  days 
of  open  trenches,  sustained  by  a  continuous  fire  of  fusileers,  with 
two  pieces  of  cannon  and  a  grenade  mortar,  they  were  reduced 
to  ask  for  peace,  although  they  had  five  hundred  warriors  in  the 
fort,  who  fired  briskly,  and  more  than  three  thousand  women ; 
they  also  expected  shortly  a  reinforcement  of  three  hundred 
men.  But  the  promptness  with  which  n)y  ofiicers  pushed  for- 
ward the  trenches  that  I  had  opened  at  only  seventy  yards  from 
the  fort,  made  the  enemy  fear,  the  third  night,  that  they  would 
be  taken.  As  I  was  now  only  twenty-four  yards  from  their  fort, 
my  aim  was  to  reach  their  triple-oak  stakes  by  a  ditch  of  a  foot 
and  a-half  in  the  rear.  Perceiving  very  well  that  my  balls  had 
not  the  eftect  I  anticipated,  I  decided  ro  take  the  place  at  the 
first  outset,  and  to  explode  two  mines  under  their  curtains.  'UK- 
boxes  being  in  place  for  this  purpose,  1  did  not  listen  to  the  ene» 
mies'  first  proposition.  They  having  made  a  second  one,  I  sub- 
mitted it  to  my  allies,  who  consented  to  it  on  the  conditions:  diat 
the  Foxes  and  their  allies  would  make  peace  with  all  Indians 
who  are  submissive  to  the  king,  and  with  whom  the  French  are 


158  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

engaged  in  trade.  That  they  would  return  to  me  all  the  French 
prisoners  that  they  have,  and  those  captured  during  the  war  from 
all  our  allies  (all  which  was  complied  with  immediately).  That 
they  would  take  slaves  from  distant  nations  and  deliver  them  to 
our  allies  to  replace  their  dead.  That  they  would  hunt  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  this  war.  And,  as  a  security  for  keeping  their 
word,  they  were  required  to  deliver  me  six  of  their  chiefs,  or  chil- 
dren of  chiefs,  as  hostages,  until  the  entire  execution  of  our 
treaty;  which  they  did,  and  I  took  them  with  me  to  Quebec.'' 

Having  already  occupied  more  space  than  is  allotted  to  the 
Fox  and  Sacs,  we  forbear  further  quotations  from  authorities  and 
copies  of  official  manuscripts  at  hand  to  show  the  troublesome 
relations  between  them  and  the  French  colonies  for  the  following 
fifty  years;  but  from  these  sources  of  information  we  summarize 
the  statement  that  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  were  far  from  being  either 
subdued  or  exterminated;  that,  in  17 18,  they  had  gained  a  firm 
footing  upon  Rock  River,  Illinois ;  and  four  years  later,  without 
yielding  their  hold  of  the  territory  conquered  in  Wisconsin, 
they  and  the  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins  had  driven  the  last  rem- 
nants of  the  Illinois  tribes  south  beyond  the  Illinois,  leaving 
nothing  to  check  their  raids  along  that  river,  and  rendering  com- 
munication between  the  lower-Mississippi  settlements  and  those 
of  Canada  almost  impracticable.  Black  Hawk  says  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes  "were  driven,  by  the  combined  forces  of  their  ene- 
mies, to  the  Wisconsin.  They  remained  there  some  time,  until 
a  party  of  their  young  men  (who  had  descended  Rock  River  to 
its  mouth)  returned  and  made  a  favorable  report  of  the  country; 
when  they  all  descended  Rock  River,'''  drove  the  Kas-kas-kias 
from  the  country,  and  commenced  the  erection  of  a  village 
[shortly  above  Rock  Island]  determined  never  to  leave  it;  and 
at  this  village  I  was  born,'"  etc. 

It  may  be  inquired  how  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  repaired  the  in- 
cessant drain  on  their  numbers  caused  by  their  constant  wars 
east,  west,  and  south  against  neighboring  tribes,  who  always  had 
the  moial  support  and  often  the  direct  assistance  of  the  French. 
Their  polygamous  practices  would  aid  only  in  a  degree ;  while  the 
real  explanation  will  be  found  in  their  custom — borrowed,  per- 
haps, from  their  friends,  the  Iroquois — of  adopting  their  prisoners 
of  war,  and  incorporating  them  into  their  tribe,  instead  of  killing 
» 

*  In  the  Algonquin  Usin-e  [stony]  See-be  [river],  meaning  the  rocky  river, 
and  designated  on  early  French  maps  as  ^'■Riviere  dc  la  Roch  ",  which  has  the 
same  signification. 


thp:  fox  and  sacs.  i5(^ 

or  making  women  [slaves]  of  ihcm,  as  was  tlie  general  rule 
among  other  Indians.''' 

Having  taken  no  hand  in  the  border  wars  that  ])egan  westward 
of  the  Alleghanys  with  the  near  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  ended  with  (ien.  ^^'ayne's  victory  over  the  confederated 
tribes  at  Maumee  rapids  in  1794,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  were  not 
represented  at  the  resulting  treaty  of  Greenville  the  following 
year.  Previous  to  this,  they  had  subdued  the  lowas,  and  incor- 
porated them  in  their  own  tribe,  and  extended  their  domain  up 
the  Des  Moines  River  in  the  present  State  of  Iowa;  thence 
northwestwardly,  says  Judge  Hall,  "beyond  Council  Bluffs  and 
into  the  immense  prairies  periodically  visited  by  the  buffalo.'" 
They  claimed  the  country  for  a  distance  on  both  sides  of  the 
Mississippi  from  Rock  River  up  to  Prairie-du-Chien,  which  in- 
cluded all  the  valuable  mines  of  lead  ore  in  that  region.  The 
principal  village  of  the  Foxes  was  at  l)ul)uque"s  mine,  some 
seventy-five  miles  below  the  former  place.  They  had  another  at 
Rock-River  rapids;  while,  on  the  ea.st  bank  of  the  Mississippi, 
near  the  foot  of  the  island  (known  as  Rock  Island),  was  a  village' 
of  "Foxes  and  Sacs,  living  promiscuously  together:  it  being  (says 
Schoolcraft,  writing  in  1820)  one  of  the  largest  and  most  popu- 
lous Indian  villages  on  the  continent." 

From  these  villages  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  warred  upon  the 
nations  to  the  west,  particularly  the  (ireat  and  Little  Osages, 
against  whom  they  waged  a  contest  that  would  have  been  one  of 
extermination  had  not  the  United  States  authorities,  through 
Gov.  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  interfered  and  put  a  stop  to  it.  In 
181 1,  when  the  Indian  disturbances,  egged  on  by  Tecumthe  and 
his  followers,  foreshadowed  the  war  declared  by  the  United  States 
against  Great  Britain  the  following  year,  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  sent 
a  committee  of  their  chiefs  to  Wa.shington  City  to  offer  the  ser- 
vices of  their  tribe  to  President  Madison;  and  when  the  war  had 
actually  begun,  they  sent  a  second  delegation  to  St.  Louis,  and 
again  tendered  their  warriors  to  the  Government.  A\'hile  these 
offers  were  politely  declined,  as  it  was  decided,  at  that  time,  not 

*  Wan-e-bea  Na-mo-eta  (Spinninj^  top),  a  Sac,  whose  village,  in  1S23, 
was  upon  the  Pek-tan-non  (meaning,  in  the  Sac  dialect,  muddy),  as  the  I'eek- 
a-ton-o-kee  River,  a  tributary  of  Rock  River,  was  called  by  the  Ko.xes  and 
Sacs,  stated  to  Maj.  Long  that  in  his  estimate  his  tribe  enumerated  nearly  * 
one  thousand  able-bodied  and  middle-aged  men;  that  not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred of  these  were,  in  his  opinion,  of  pure  Sac  extraction;  while  the  others 
were  principally  of  a  foreign  stock  obtained  in  the  way  we  have  stated.  I'itie 
"Long's  Expedition  to  the  Source  of  the  St.  Peters  River." 


l6o  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

to  employ  such  auxiliaries,  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  were  sorely  puz- 
zled to  comprehend  how  a  fight  should  be  going  on  without  their 
taking  a  hand  in  it.  Divided  councils  ensued;  a  majority,  mainly 
Foxes,  remained  neutral,  while  a  brigade  estimated  at  from  two 
to  four  hundred,  mostly  Sacs,  easily  seduced  by  the  ])resents  and 
promises  of  Robt.  Dickson,'^  went  over  to  the  British.  They 
were  commanded  by  the  Sac  chief,  Ma-ka-tia-me-she  Kia-kiak, — 
the  Black  Sparrow-Hawk,  abbreviated,  through  common  consent, 
to  Black  Hawk — whom  Col.  Dickson  commissioned  as  a  general 
in  the  military  services  of  his  king.  From  these  circumstances 
this  division  of  the  Foxes  and  Sacs  were  afterward  known  as  the 
'■'British  band". 

The  writer  has  neither  the  space  or  desire  now  or  here  to  nar- 
rate occurrences  relating  to  the  so-called  Black-Hawk  War  of 
1832.  That  war  and  the  events  that  lead  up  to  it  are  given  by 
several  authors,  whose  volumes  are  easily  accessible  to  the  inquir- 
ing reader.t     At  the  conclusion  of  this  war,  the  Foxes  and  Sacs, 

*  A  subject  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  fur-trader,  whose  depot  of  supplies  was 
at  Prairie  du  Chien.  For  many  years  before,  without  warrant  or  authority, 
he  trafficked  within  the  acknowledged  boundaries  of  the  United  States  along 
the  upper  Mississippi,  where,  it  seems,  he  was  as  industriously  engaged,  all 
the  while,  in  distributing  British  flags  and  medals  of  King  George  III.  among 
the  Indians  as  he  was  in  collecting  peltries.  This  pernicious  practice  kept 
alive  in  their  untutored  breasts  their  love  for  their  "British  father  across  the 
big  water",  and  fanned  their  hatred  of  the  "Americans  who  had  thrown  him 
•on  his  back."  The  seed  of  his  teachings  was  all  too  ripe  for  the  harvest 
when  the  war  broke  out.  He  visited  all  the  tribes  on  the  Mississippi  and 
Illinois  rivers  and  their  tributaries,  from  Prairie  du  Chien  to  Green  Bay; 
and,  early  in  June,  1813,  had  collected,  at  the  ruins  of  Fort  Dearborn  (now 
Chicago),  a  horde  numbering  nearly  one  thousand  of  the  most  cruel  and 
abandoned  desperadoes  he  could  find.  From  Chicago  he  led  them  in  separ- 
ate bodies  to  Detroit  and  Maiden,  and  turned  them  over  to  Gen.  Proctor; 
and  the  latter  sought  in  vain  to  find  a  gap  in  Gov.  Harrison's  lines  through 
which  he  might  hurl  these  fiends  upon  our  border  settlements.  Instead  of 
finding  the  promised  cabins  to  burn,  children  to  brain,  and  women  to  disem- 
bowel, they  were  confronted  everywhere  by  men  armed  with  guns  and  bayo- 
nets. A  few  months'  campaigning  against  such  implements  of  war,  and  their 
thirst  for  the  blood  of  defenceless  victims  waned;  they  deserted  in  squads  of 
front  three  to  a  score  in  number,  and  started  back  to  their  several  countries, 
cursing,  as  they  journeyed,  the  name  of  Dickson,  who  had  so  wofully  deceived 
them. 

t  Brown's  and  Ford's  "History  of  Illinois",  Gale's  " Upper  Mississippi", 
and  Dr.  Benj.  Drake's  "Life  of  Black   Hawk".      1  he  inore  rare,  miscellane- 


THE   FOX   AND   SACS.  161 

by  the  treaty  made  Sept.  21st,  1832,  at  Rock  Island,  ceded  all 
their  lands  along  the  Mississippi,  covering  nearly  the  whole  east- 
ern half  of  Iowa  and  a  large  tract  of  country  on  the  east  side  of 
that  river  not  embraced  in  previous  treaties;  further  agreeing  to 
leave  them  and  to  quit  hunting  and  fishing  upon  them  after  the 
June  then  next  following.  This  treaty  opened  the  door  to  a  press 
of  emigration,  whose  daily  swelling  volume  ([uickly  poured  itself 
across  the  Mississippi  into  Iowa,  and  spread  the  ne\vly-ac(|uired 
domain  with  golden  fields,  fragrant  orchards,  happy  cottage-homes, 
nestled  amid  shady  groves,  churches,  and  school-houses,  and 
other  evidences  of  the  highest  type  of  civilization.  Still  the 
hardy  emigrant  from  the  elder  States*  required  more  room;  and 
by  subsequent  treaties,  in  1837  and  1842,  the  Foxes  and  Sacs, 
and  other  tribes  that  may  have  claimed  any  title,  the  whole  coun- 
try to  the  Missouri  River  was  given  up  to  him.  The  sounding 
axe  is  again  heard  everywhere;  everywhere  is  seen  the  straining 
team  turning  up  the  tough  prairie-sod;  and  on  March  3d,  1845, 
Iowa,  said  to  mean  in  the  Algonquin  language,  "///<'  beautiful 
lainr,  became  a  State,  the  fifteenth  of  the  sisterhood  admitted 
under  the  federal  constitution. 

After  the  treaty  of  1842,  the  Mississippi  bands  of  the  Foxes 
and  Sacs  were  placed  on  a  reservation  of  435,200  acres  located 
on  the  Osage  River;  while  the  Missouri  band  was  placed  on  the 
south  side  of  Ne-ma-ha  River,  near  the  northeast  corner  of  Kan- 
sas. They  of  the  Kansas  agency,  in  1865,  raised  7500  bushels 
of  corn,  and  owned  1700  horses;  and  the  estimated  value  of 
their  personal  effects  was  $71,910.     By  the  enumeration  of  their 

ous  and  historical  writings  of  Judge  fas.  Hall;  the  statements  of  Col.  Thos. 
Forsyth  (preserved  in  Mrs.  Kinzie's  "Wau-bun",  and  who,  for  many  years 
prior  to  1830,  was  a  trader  or  United  States  Indian  agent  among  the  Fo.\es 
and  Sacs)  contain  many  interesting  facts,  as  does  Black  Hawk's  account  of 
his  own  life;  while  the  publications  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  of 
Wisconsin  abound  with  crude  material  upon  the  same  subject.  When  the 
varient  biases  and  prejudices  of  the  respective  writers  shall  have  been  elimi- 
nated from  these  and  other  sources  of  information,  and  a  fair  average  of  truth 
is  formed  from  the  residuum,  it  will  show  that  the  manner  in  which  the  treaty 
of  1S04,  for  the  cession  of  a  large  body  of  lands  of  the  I'oxes  and  Sacs  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  including  Black  Hawk's  ancient  village,  was  negotiated, 
reflects  liule  credit  for  fair  dealing  on  the  part  of  the  dominant  race;  while 
the  manner  in  which  the  war  was  conducted,  that  arose  out  of  confliciing  con- 
structions of  this  treaty,  reflects  still  less  upon  their  military  fame. 

*  There  was  little  of  the  foreign  element  in  the  early  settlement  of  Iowa  as 
compared  with  the  native. 
II  ' 


l62  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

numbers  taken  the  same  year,  there  were  364  men  and  441 
women  of  the  Mississippi  band  in  Kansas,  and  only  44  men  and 
51  women  of  the  Missouri  band  remaining  on  the  Nemaha.  If 
the  census  taker  had  gone  further  west  out  upon  the  great  ]:)lains 
toward  the  foot-hills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  he  would,  doubt- 
less, have  found  many  more,  engaged  there  in  hunting  and  fight- 
ing, the  employment  of  men,  instead  of  hoeing  corn,  a  drudgery, 
according  to  their  ethics,  fit  only  to  be  endured  by  women. 

Judge  Hall,  who  enjoyed  a  long  and  extended  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  this  people,  says:  "The  Foxes  and  Sacs  are  remark- 
able for  the  symmetry  of  their  form  and  fine  personal  appearance. 
Few  of  the  tribes  resemble  them  in  these  particulars:  still  fewer 
equal  their  intrepidity.  They  are,  physically  and  morally,  among 
the  most  striking  of  their  race.  Their  history  abounds  with  dar- 
ing and  desperate  adventures  and  romantic  incidents  ilir  beyond 
the  usual  course  of  Indian  exertion." 


THF    POTTAWATOMIES. 

This  people  was  one  of  the  three  subdivisions  of  the  Ojibbe- 
ways,  a  numerous  family  of  the  Algonquin  tribes,  the  other  two 
members,  and  of  whom  it  is  not  the  present  purpose  to  write, 
being  the  Chippeways,  or  Ojibbeways,  who  retained  the  family 
name,  and  the  Otta\<'ays.  From  causes,  not  here  necessar}'  to 
name,  they  early  became  separated;  and,  in  the  progress  of  time, 
the  Chippeways  extended  themselves  westward  and  south  of  Lake 
Superior  to  the  eastward  sources  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  River. 
The  Ottaways  sjuead  south  to  (irand  River,  in  the  State  of  Michi- 
gan, down  the  western  extremity  of  Lake  Erie,  and  for  quite  a 
distance  up  the  Maumee  River  (one  of  the  early  names  by  which 
that  stream  was  known  was  the  Ottaway);  while  the  Pottawato- 
mies  advanced  by  way  of  the  islands  at  the  entrance  of  Green 
Bay  to  the  south  into  the  country  along  the  west  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan.  That  these  three  tribes  were  originally  one  people  is- 
evidenced,  says  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  that  one  of  his  journals  en- 
titled, "The  Central  Mississippi  Valley,'"  derives  additional  "weight 
from  their  general  resemblance  in  person,  manners,  customs,  and 
dress,  but,  above  all,  by  their  having  one  council-fire  and  speaking 
one  language.  Still  there  are  obvious  characteristics  which  will 
induce  an  observer,  after  a  general  acquaintance,  to  pronounce 


11  IK    roTTAWAlO.MlKS.  l6j 

the  Pottawatomies  tall,  fierce,  haughty;  the  Ottaways  thick-set, 
good-natured,  industrious;  the  Chippeways  war-hke,  daring,  etc! 
But  the  general  lineaments,  or  to  borrow  a  phrase  from  natural 
history,  'the  suite  features  are  identical.""  Confirmatory  of  thi- 
above  statement,  we  have  the  speeches  of  distinguished  chiefs  of 
each  of  tlie  three  sub-tribes,  at  the  treaty  of  Chicago,  August  291!!, 
182 1,  when  the  question  of  ownership  of  a  large  domain,  south 
of  Grand  River,  sought  to  be  purchased,  was  under  discussion. 
Kee-way-goosh-kum,  a  learned  man  among  the  Ottaways,  said : 

"The  Chippeways,  the  Pottawatomies,  and  the  Ottaways  were 
origiiially  one  nation,  ^^'e  separated  from  each  other  near  Michi- 
hmackinac.  We  were  related  by  the  ties  of  lilood,  language,  and 
interest;  but  in  the  course  of  a  long  time  these  things  have  bern 
forgotten." 

After  which  Michel,  an  aged  chief  of  the  Chippeways,  arose 
and,  among  other  things,  said: 

"My  Brethren — you  have  heard  the  man  who  has  just  s])oken. 
We  are  all  descended  from  the  same  stock,  the  Pottawatomies 
and  the  Chippeways.  We  consider  ourselves  as  one.  Win 
should  we  not  always  act  in  concert?" 

Metea,  the  orator  and  historian  of  the  Pottawatomies,  and  a 
chieftain  renowned  for  his  knowledge  of  the  traditions  of  his  tribe, 
gave  his  assent  to  these  declarations  in  this  language: 

"Brothers,  Chippeways  and  Ottaways,  we  consider  ourselves  as 
one  people,  which  you  know,  as  also  does  our  father  here  (alluding 
to  Gov.  Lewis  Cass,  the  principal  commissioner  in  the  negotia- 
tions of  this  treaty),  who  has  travelled  over  our  country." 

The  declaration  of  Metea  carries  more  weight  from  the  fact 
that  his  tribe  alone  had  been  the  occupants  of  by  far  the  greater 
portion  of  the  territory  about  to  be  purchased,  the  Chii)i)e\vays. 
so  far  as  is  known,  never  having  lived  upon  it,  while  the  Ottaways 
never  resided  upon  but  a  small  part  of  it,  in  common  with  the 
Pottawatomies,  in  the  vicinity  of  Detroit  and  about  the  head  of 
the  Maumee  Bav.''^ 

""  To  the  same  effect  was  the  speech  of  tlie  Chippevvay  chief  Mas-sass  at  the 
treaty  of  (Jreenville,  in  1795,  who,  as  the  journal  of  th-nt  council  states,  "arose 
and  spoke  in  behalf  of  the  I'hrce  Fu-es,  the  Ottaways,  Chippeways,  and  Tot- 
tawatomies."  In  his  speech  he  constantly  alludes  to  the  Ottaways,  Chippe- 
ways, and  Pottawatomies,  as  "We  the  Three  Fires."  Later  on  he  is  followetl 
by  the  great  Kesis  (the  sun),  who  lived  upon  the  Wabash,  a  day's  journey 
below  old  Fort  Ouiatenon,  and  who  said  to  Gen.  Wayne : 

"Elder  Brother,  if  my  old  chiefs  were  living,  I  would  not  presume  to  speak 
in  this  assembly,  but  as  they  are  dead,  I  now  address  you  in  the  name  of  \\\<: 


\ 


l64  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA    INDIANS. 

In  the  writings  left  by  early  French  authors,  the  word  Potta- 
watomies  was  spelled,  as  is  the  case  with  the  names  of  other 
tribes,  to  suit  the  arbitrary  tastes  of  the  various  authors.  Some 
of  the  forms  are  Poutouatimi,  Pouotatamis,  Poutouamies,  Poute- 
watamis,  Pautawattamies,  Pouttewatamies,  Pottawattamies,  and 
Poux.  The  tribe  was  divided  into  four  clans:  the  golden-carp, 
the  frog,  the  crab,  and  the  tortoise. 

Unlike  the  Illinois,  Miamis,  and  several  others,  the  Pottawa- 
tomies  were  not  divided  into  separate  tribes,  but  their  different 
bands  would  separate  and  unite  according  to  the  abundance  or 
scarcity  of  game,  or  the  emergencies  of  war.  The  name  Potta- 
watomie, in  their  own  language  signifies  7C'c  are  i/uiki//g  a  fire; 
and  for  the  origin  of  which  Joseph  Barron,  Ciov.  Harrison's  In- 
dian interpreter,  related  to  Prof  W.  H.  Keating,  at  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  in  1824,  this  tradition:  "A  Miami,  having  wandered  out 
from  his  cabin,  met  three  Indians  whose  language  was  unintelli- 
gible to  him;  by  signs  and  motions  he  invited  them  to  follow  him 
to  his  cabin,  where  they  were  hospitably  entertained,  and  where 
they  remained  until  dark.  During  the  night,  two  of  the  strange 
Indians  stole  from  the  hut,  while  their  comrade  and  the  host  were 
asleep.  They  took  a  few  embers  from  the  cabin,  and  placing  these 
near  the  door  of  the  hut,  they  made  a  fire,  which,  being  afterward 
seen  by  the  Miami  and  his  remaining  guest,  was  understood  to 
imply  a  council-fire  between  the  two  nations.  From  this  circum- 
stance the  Miami  called  them,  in  his  language,  Wa-ho-na-ha,  or 
fire-makers,  which,  being  translated  into  the  other  language,  pro- 
duced the  term  by  which  the  Pottawatomies  have  ever  since 
been  distinguished,  and  the  pronunciation  of  which,  as  spoken  by 
themselves,  is  Po-ta-wa-to-me,  in  their  language.  We  are  making 
a  fire.  * 

Pottawatomies,  as  Massas  has  spoken  in  the  name  of  the  Three  Fires,  of 
which  7oe  are  one.  «  *  *  Jt  ig  two  years  since  I  assisted  at  the  treaty  of 
Vincennes  (referring  to  the  treaty  conchided  at  that  place  by  Gen.  Rufus 
Putnam,  and  the  several  Wabash  River  and  Illinois  tribes,  Sept.  27th,  1792, 
nearly  three  instead  of  two  years  before  the  treaty  at  Greenville);  my  voice 
then  represented  the  Three  Fires." 

*  "  Major  Long's  Expedition  to  the  Sources  of  the  St.  Peter's  River  ".  Prof. 
Keating  adds  a  foot-note  to  the  effect  that  the  above  tradition  was  narrated 
to  him  by  the  Indian  "agent's  interpreter,  Mr.  Joseph  Parron,  a  man  whose 
long  residence  among  the  Indians,  extensive  acquaintance  with  their  character, 
together  with  his  unimpeachable  veracity,  confer  much  value  upon  all  the 
information  obtained  from  him."  Joseph  Barron  for  many  years  was  the 
interpreter,  friend,  and  constant  companion  of  Gen.  Harrison  during  all  his 


THE    rOTTAWATOMIES.  165 

The  first  mention  we  find  of  the  Pottawatomies  is  in  the  "Jesuit 
Relations"  for  the  years  1639-40;  where  they  are  referred  to  as  a 
tribe  dweUing  beyond  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  and  to  the  north 
of  Lake  Huron.  Twenty-six  or  seven  years  later,  in  1666,  in  the 
journal  of  Father  Allouez,  as  preserved  in  the  "Jesuit  Relation.s", 
they  are  described  as  "a  people  whose  country  is  about  the  lake 
of  the  Ill-i-mouek,  a  great  lake  that  has  not  come  to  our  knowl- 
edge, adjoining  the  lake  of  the  Hurons  and  that  of  the  Puants 
[Green  Bay],  between  the  east  and  the  south."*  "They  arc  a 
warlike  people,  hunters  and  fishers.  Their  country  is  good  for 
Indian-corn,  of  which  they  plant  fields,  and  to  which  they  repair 
to  avoid  the  famines  that  are  too  frequent  in  these  quarters.  They 
are  in  the  highest  degree  idolaters,  attached  to  ridiculous  fables, 
and  devoted  to  polygamy.  *  *  ■■'  Of  all  the  people  that  I 
have  associated  with  in  these  countries,  they  are  the  most  docile 
and  affectionate  toward  the  French.  Their  wives  and  daughters 
are  more  reserved  than  those  of  other  nations.  They  have  a  kind 
of  civility  among  them,  and  make  it  quite  apparent  to  strangers, 
which  is  very  rare  among  our  barbarians." 

The  Pottawatomies  formed  an  early  attachment  to  the  French 

official  career,  as  Governor  of  the  Indiana  Territory  and  Commander  of  the 
military  forces  of  the  Northwest,  in  the  war  of  i8i2,  assisting,  as  interpreter, 
at  all  of  the  treaties  conducted  by  Gov.  Harrison,  and  acting  as  spy,  guide, 
and  confidential  messenger  in  the  many  perilous  movements  of  his  principal, 
during  these  times  of  troublesome  Indian  difficulties.  He  was  a  native  French- 
man, of  Detroit,  and  died  July  31,  1843,  at  the  home  of  his  son,  on  the 
Wabash,  near  Logansport,  Indiana. 

*  In  the  "  Relations",  for  the  same  year,  Lake  Michigan  is  again  referred  to 
as  "Lake  lU-e-aouers,"  and  "Lake  Ill-i-ni-oues,  as  yet  unexplored;  *  * 
and  that  the  Fox  Indians  call  it  Match-i-hi-gan-ing."  Father  Hennepin, 
writing  at  a  period  some  thirteen  years  later,  in  1679,  when  its  genera!  coast- 
line had  become  better  ascertained,  says:  "The  lake  is  called  by  the  Indians 
111-i-nouck,  and  by  the  French  Illinois,  and  adds  in  the  same  paragraph  that 
'it  is  called  bythe  Miamis  Misch-i-gon-ong,  that  is,  the  Great  Lake.'  Father 
Marest,  in  his  letter  written  from  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  Nov.  9,  1712,  and 
which  has  become  famous  on  account  of  the  valuable  historical  matter  it  con- 
tains, drops  the  ('«^^(the  place  of)  and  contracts  the  word  to  Mk/iii^'nii,  and  is, 
perhaps,  the  first  writer  who  ever  spelled  it  in  the  way  that  has  become  uni- 
versal. He  naively  says  that  "on  tlie  maps  this  lake  has  the  name,  without 
any  authority,  of  the  'Lake  of  the  Illinois,'  since  the  Illinois  do  not  dwell  in 
its  neighborhood."  The  name  is  derived  from  the  two  Algonquin  words,  Mu/i-i 
(Missi  or  Missi),  which  signifies  great,  as  it  does  also  several  or  many  ;  and  .Sag- 
ay-i-gan,  a  lake.— T/r/^  "Henry's  Travels." 


l66  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

ihat  remained  unbroken  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  good  and 
Ijad  fortune  attendant  upon  their  exploration  and  attempted  hold- 
ing of  the  great  Northwest.  This  friendshi]j  was  so  uniform  and 
reliable  that  the  Pottawatoniies  figure  much  less  in  official 'docu- 
ments than  the  Miamies,  the  Foxes,  or  other  erratic  tribes  with 
whom  the  French  had  to  do.  Whatever  speculations  might  arise 
as  to  what  these  latter  might  do,  no  concern  was  had  as  to  the 
Pottawatomie;  he  was  always  ready  to  bloody  his  hatchet  on 
the '  enemies  of  his  Father's  children,  the  French,  be  they  white 
Britishers,  or  red  natives  of  his  own  race.  While  Nicholas 
Perrot  was  on  his  Avay  from  Saulte  de  Ste.  Mary  to  the  head  of 
(jreen  Bay,  in  1671,  engaged  in  notifying  the  several  nations  to 
meet  St.  Lusson,  the  king's  deputy  at  the  former  place,  and  hear 
the  king's  will,  and  give  their  assent  to  the  act  of  taking  formal 
possession  of  the  country,  the  Pottawatoniies  supplied  Perott 
with  an  escort  of  their  braves,  as  he  passed  one  of  their  villages 
on  the  east  shore  of  Green  Bay,  to  ensure  his  safety,  the  route 
being  considered  dangerous  on  account  of  a  threatened  war 
between  the  Sioux  and  the  Mascoutins.  As  Perott  ai)proached 
the  village  of  the  Miamis,  he  sent  forward  a  troop  of  young  men 
from  his  escort  to  announce  his  arrival.  The  great  Miami  chief, 
Te-tin-choua,  wished  to  "give  the  envoy  of  the  general  of  the 
French  a  reception  that  would  attest  his  own  power.  He  sent  out 
a  detachment  to  meet  him,  giving  it  orders  to  receive  him  in  mili- 
tary style.  'J 'he  detachment  advanced  in  battle  order,  all  the 
braves  adorned  with  feathers,  armed  at  all  points,  uttering  war-cries, 
from  time  to  time.  The  Pouteouatamis  who  escorted  Perrot, 
seeing  them  come  in  this  guise,  prepared  to  receive  them  in  the 
same  manner,  and  Perrot  put  himself  at  their  head.  When  the 
two  troops  were  in  face  of  each  other,  they  stopped  as  if  to  take 
breath,  then  all  at  once  Perrot's  took  the  right,  the  Miamis  the 
left,  all  running  in  Indian  file,  as  though  they  wished  to  gain 
an  advantage  to  charge.  But  the  Miamis,  wheeling  in  the  form 
of  an  arc,  the  Pouteouatamis  were  invested  on  all  sides.  Then 
iDoth  uttered  loud  yells,  which  were  the  signal  for  a  kind  of  a 
combat.  The  Miamis  fired  a  volley  from  their  guns,  which  were 
loaded  only  with  powder,  and  the  Pouteouatamis  returned  it  in 
the  same  way ;  after  this  they  closed,  tomahawk  in  hand,  all  the 
blows  being  received  on  the  tomahawk.  Peace  was  then  made ; 
the  Miamis  presented  the  calumet  to  Perrot,  and  led  him  with  all 
his  escort  into  the  chief  town,  where  the  great  chief  assigned  him 
a  guard  of  fifty  men,  and  regaled  him  splendidly  after  the  custom 
of  the  country."'-' 

*  Charlevoix's  "New  France." 


THE    POTTAWATOMIES.  1 67 

Prior  to  1670,  the  Pottawatomies  had  collected  n\)on  the 
islands  in  Lake  Michigan  lying  westward  of  the  Straits  of  Macki- 
nac and  on  those  near  the  entrance  of  Green  Bay;  dwelling  there, 
as  appears  from  a  letter  written  that  year  by  Father  Claude  Dab- 
Ion  from  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  at  (ireen  Bay,  "but 
as  sij-a/igcrs.  the  fear  of  the  Iroquois  having  driven  them  from 
their  lands,  which  are  between  the  Lake  of  the  Hurons  and  that 
of  the  Illinois";  \_i.e.,  the  Peninsula  of  Michigan.] 

From  these  islands  they  advanced  southward  between  the 
shores  of  Green  Bay  and  Lake  Michigan,  populating  both  with 
their  villages.  Father  Hennepin's  narrative  of  La  SaFle's  voyage 
mentions  the  fact,  that,  the  year  prior  to  LaSalle's  coming  west- 
ward, 1678,  he  had  sent  out  a  party  of  traders  in  advance;  who, 
having  bartered  successfully  with  the  Pottawatomies  at  the  islands 
named,  were  anxiously  waiting  for  La  Salle  at  the  time  of  his 
arrival  there  in  the  Griffon.  The  same  author  notes  the  further 
fact  that  LaSalle's  party,  as  they  coasted  southward,  traded  at 
another  village  of  the  same  tribe,  situated,  probably,  at  She- 
boygan, Wisconsin,  certainly  not  south  of  Milwaukee.  When 
La'Salle  reached  the  St.  Josephs  of  Lake  Michigan  there  were 
no  Pottawatomies  in  that  vicinity.  Shortly  after  this  time,  1678, 
they  seem  to  have  swarmed  from  their  prolific  hives  on  the 
islands  named,  and  advanced  southward  to  the  head  of  the  lake, 
from  which,  in  time,  they  spread  out  like  a  great  fan  ;  their  left 
extreme  covering  that  part  of  the  State  of  Michigan  lying  south 
of  Grand  River  and  a  line  drawn  from  its  source  to  the  mouth  of 
Lake  Huron  ;  their  right  extending  over  that  portion  of  Illinois 
lying  north  of  the  Kankakee  and  Illinois  rivers,  as  far  west  as 
the  territory  claimed  by  the  Winnebagoes  and  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes ;  while  their  front  was  pushed  eastward  into  the  country 
of  the  Miamis  to  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  and  the  Maumee. 
Father  Charlevoix  who  visited  the  localities  in  1721  says,  "the 
Pottawatomies  possessed  only  one  of  the  small  islands  at  the 
mouth  of  Green  Bay,  but  had  two  other  villages,  one  on  the 
St.  Joseph  -^  [of  Lake  Michigan]  and  the  other  at  '  the  Narrows  ' 
[Detroit.] 

Concerning  the  village  near  Detroit,  and  also  some  of  the 
customs  of  its  occupants,  we  have  the  following  account,  taken 

• 

*  The  Pottawatomie  villages  were  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  in  the  near 
vicinity  of  Niles.  Old  Fort  St.  Joseph  and  the  Jesuite  Mission  from  which 
the  stream  and  the  fort  were  named,  stood  on  the  same  shore,  wliile  the 
great  Miami's  town,  for  whom  the  river  was  originally  called,  was  upon  the 
opposite  bank. 


l68  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA   INDIANS. 

from  an  official  "Memoir,  prepared  in  1718,  on  the  Indians 
l)etween  Lake  Erie  and  the  Mississippi:  "The  port  of  Detroit  is 
south  [west]  of  the  river.  The  village  of  the  Pottawatomies  ad- 
joins the  fort;  they  lodge  partly  under  apaquois  *  which  are 
made  of  mat-grass." 

"The  women  do  all  the  work.  The  men  belonging  to  that 
nation  are  well  clothed,  like  our  domiciliated  Indians  at  Montreal. 
Their  entire  occupation  is  hunting  and  dress.  They  make  use  of 
a  great  deal  of  vermilion,  and  in  winter  wear  buffalo  robes  richly 
painted,  and  in  summer  either  blue  or  red  cloth.  They  play  a 
good  deal  at  LaCrosset  in  summer,  twenty  or  more  on  a  side.'" 

*  Uh-puh-quay,  in  the  Ojebway  dialect,  meaning  a  mat  for  the  floor  or 
covering  of  a  wigwam  ;  made  by  plaiting  or  weaving  reeds  together,  like  a 
carpet.  The  cat-tail  flag  furnished  a  popular  material  for  this  purpose;  and 
they  were  so  skilfully  fastened  together  by  the  women,  who  made  them,  that 
when  new,  the  rain  would  "not  penetrate  them." — Vide  Father  Marest.  The 
frame  of  the  wigwam  was  made  with  poles  fastened  in  the  ground,  in  a 
circular  form,  the  tops  drawn  together  in  a  cone,  and  over  these  the  mattings 
were  placed. 

+  The  Indian  game  of  ball,  or  cricket,  known  among  the  Algonquin  tribes 
l)y  the  name  of  Bag-gat-i-ioay,  called  by  the  Canadians  le  jeu  de  la  crossc, 
(the  game  of  the  bat)  from  the  bat  used  in  the  play.  It  was  popular  among 
the  aborigines  as  base-ball  is  with  the  whites  at  the  present  day,  and  is  still 
played  among  them  substantially  as  described  nearly  two  centuries  ago  by  the 
author  quoted  in  the  text.  George  Catlin,  the  great  Indian  portrait  painter, 
in  his  interesting  and  finely  illustrated  "  History  of  the  North  American 
Indians,"  says,  "I  made  it  an  uniform  rule  while  in  the  Indian  country  to 
attend  every  ball-play  I  could  hear  of,  if  I  could  do  it  by  riding  a  distance 
of  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  *  *  *  jt  is  no  uncommon  occurence  for  six  or 
eight  hundred  or  a  thousand  young  men  to  engage  in  a  game  of  ball,  with 
more  than  that  number  of  spectators — men,  women,  and  children — surround- 
ing the  ground  and  looking  on.  *  *  *  In  the  game  every  player  is 
dressed  alike,  that  is,  dhested  of  all  dress,  except  the  girdle,  etc.  And  in  the 
desperate  struggles  for  the  ball  when  it  is  up,  where  hundreds  are  running 
together  and  leaping,  actually  over  each  others  head,  and  darting  between 
their  adversaries  legs,  tripping  and  throwing,  and  foiling  each  other  in  every 
possible  manner,  and  every  voice  raised  to  tlje  highest  key,  in  shrill  yelps  and 
barks,  there  are  rapid  successions  of  feats  and  of  incidents,  that  astonish  and 
amaze  far  beyond  the  conception  of  any  one  who  has  not  had  the  singular 
good  luck  to  witness  them."  In  Pontiac's  war,  the  capture  of  the  British 
garrison  at  Mackinac  was  assigned  to  the  Ojebways,  who  effected  an  entrance 
to  the  fort  through  the  stratagem  of  a  game  of  bag-gat-i-way.      Notice  was 


THE    I'OTT  AW  ATOMIES.  1 69 

"Their  bat  is  a  sort  of  a  little  racket,*  and  the  ball  wiili  whiih 
they  play  is  made  of  very  heavy  wood,  somewhat  larger  tlian  the 
balls  used  at  tennis.  They  are  entirely  naked  except  a  breech- 
cloth,  and  moccasins  on  their  feet.  Their  bodies  are  completely 
painted  with  all  sorts  of  colors.  Some,  with  white  clay,  trace 
white  lace  on  their  bodies,  as  if  on  all  the  seams  of  a  coat,  and, 
at  a  distance,  it  would  be  taken  for  silver  lace.  They  play  very 
deep  and  often  the  bets  sometimes  amounting  to  more  than  eight 
hundred  livres.  They  set  up  two  poles,  and  commence  the  game 
from  the  centre ;  one  party  propels  the  ball  from  one  side,  and 
the  others  from  the  opposite;  and  whichever  reaches  the  goal 
wins.  It  is  a  fine  recreation  well  worth  seeing.  They  often  play 
village  against  village.  The  Poux  [a  nickname  for  the  Potta- 
watomies]  against  the  Ottawas,  or  Hurons,  and  at  heavy  stakes. 
Sometimes  the  French  join  in  the  game  with  them. 

"The  women  cultivate  Indian-corn,  beans,  squashes,  and  melons, 
which  come  up  very  fine.  The  women  and  girls  dance  at  night. 
They  adorn  themselves  considerably;  grease  their  hair,  paint 
their  faces  with  vermilion,  put  on  a  white  chemise,  wear  what- 
ever wampum  they  possess,  and  are  very  tidy  in  their  way. 
They  dance  to  the  sound  of  the  drum  and  si-si-quoi,  which  is  a 
sort  of  gourd  containing  some  grains  of  shot.  Four  or  five  young 
men  sing  and  beat  time  with  the  drum  and  rattle,  and  the  women 
keep  time,  and  do  not  lose  a  step.  It  is  very  interesting,  and 
lasts  almost  the  entue  night.'' 

"The  old  men  often  dance  the  medicine.  [The  medicme  or 
sorcerer's  dance.]  They  resemble  a  set  of  demons  ;  and  all  this 
takes  place  during  the  night.  The  young  men  often  dance  \n  a 
circle,  and  strike  posts.  It  is  then  they  recount  their  achieve- 
ments, and  dance,  at  the  same  time,  the  war-dance;  and  when- 
ever they  act  thus  they  are  highly  ornamented.     It  is  altogetlier 

given  that  on  King  George's  birthday,  June  4,  1763.  ^^^  Chippewas  would 
play  against  the  Sacs  for  a  high  wager.  And  when  the  excitement  ol  tl.c 
game  was  at  its  height,  the  ball,  as  if  by  chance,  was  thrown  over  the 
palisade;  the  players,  as  if  only  eagerly  intent  on  the  game,  rushed,  pell- 
mell,  by  the  unsuspecting  soldiers,  through  the  onP-i  gate,  an.l,  dropping 
their  bats,  seized  the  knives  and  tomahawks  concealed  under  the  blankets  of 
their  squaws,  who  were  already  within  the  fort,  and  at  once,  says  Alexander 
Henry,  an  eve- witness,  "began  cutting  down  and  scalping  every  Englishman 
they  found."— F/</.-  Henry's  "Travels  and  Adventures  in  Canada." 

*  The  sticks  are  bent  into  an  oblong  hoop  at  the  end,  with  a  sort  of  sle.g  it 
web  of  small  thongs  tied  across  to  prevent  the  ball  from  passing  throujjh. 
— C.vn.iN. 


170  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

very  curious.  They  often  perform  these  things  for  tobacco. 
When  they  go  hunting,  which  is  every  fall,  they  carry  their 
apaquois  with  them,  to  hut  under  at  night.  Everybody  follows — 
men,  women,  and  children.  They  winter  in  the  forest  and  return 
in  the  spring." 

.  In  all  the  broils,  growing  out  of  the  bitter  competition  for  the 
fur-trade,  between  French  and  British  adventurers,  and  in  the 
intrigues  of  the  respective  executives  of  New  France  and  the 
British  colonies  to  win  over  the  Indian  tribes,  or  incite  them  to 
acts  of  hostility  against  the  other,  and  in  which  neither  the 
French  nor  the  British  ever  once  consulted  the  welfare  of  the 
Indians  themselves,  the  Pottawatomies  maintained  an  unswerving 
alliance  with  the  French.  A\'hen  these  troubles  in  the  American 
provinces,  with  many  years  of  accumulated  grievances,  at  length 
provoked  a  formal  declaration  of  hostilities  between  France  and 
Great  Britian,  and  the  French-  Colonial  War  was  began,  the 
Pottawatomies  fought  it  through  to  the  end  under  the  flag  of 
their  old  friends.  After  the  Northwest,  with  its  mihtary  estab- 
lishments, was  turned  over  to  the  victor,  they  were  ready  to  join 
the  chief  (and  their  own  kinsman),  Pontiac,  in  his  bold  attempt 
to  capture  these  posts  and  drive  the  British  from  the  country.* 
Fort  St.  Joseph  being  in  the  country  of  the  Pottawatomies,  it  was 
given  over  for  them  to  take.  Ensign  Schlosser  was  in  command 
at  the  time,  with  only  fourteen  soldiers  to  support  him.  He  w'as 
confronted  on  the  25th  of  May,  1763,  by  a  horde  of  Pottaivato- 

*  Pontiac  was  the  great  chief  of  the  Ottawas.  "His  plans  were  matured, 
and  late  in  1762,  his  messengers  carried  black  wampum  belts  and  red  toma- 
hawks"— ensignas  of  war — "to  the  villages  of  the  Ottawas,  Ojibwas,  Potta- 
watomies, Sacs,  Foxes,  Menonionies,  lilinois,  Miamis,  Shawnees,  Delawares, 
Wayandots  [llurons],  Senecas, "  etc.  On  a  certain  day,  in  the  ne.\t  year, 
said  the  messengers,  all  the  tribes  were  to  rise,  seize  all  the  British  posts  and 
at  once  attact  the  whole  British  border. " —  Vide  "  Western  Annals. "  Accord- 
ingly, the  several  forts  were  nearly  simultaneously  attacked.  Fort  St.  Joseph, 
on  the  river  of  that  name  in  Michigan;  Fort  Ouatanon,  on  the  Wabash,  near 
La  P'ayette,  Indiana ;  Miamis,  at  Ft.  Wayne,  in  the  same  State ;  Sandusky, 
near  the  city  of  the  same  name  in  Ohio;  Presque  Isle,  at  Erie,  Penn. ;  Forts 
Le  BcEuf  and  ^'enango,  on  the  water  route  between  Erie  and  Pittsburg ;  and 
Fort  Mackinac,  as  stated  in  a  previous  note,  were  all  surprised  and  captured. 
The  forces  at  the  Saulte  de  Ste.  Mary,  at  "the  outlet  of  Lake  Su]3erior,  had 
been  withdrawn  and  were  among  the  massacred  at  Mackinac;  while  the  gar- 
rison at  Green  Bay,  through  the  concilatory  and  brave  conduct  of  their  com- 
manding officer,  Lieut.  James  Gorrell,  escaped  to  a  place  of  safety;  leaving 
both  these  places  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.      Only  three  of   the 


THE    rOTTAWATOMIKS.  \J\ 

mies  from  Detroit,  ostensibly  on  a  friendly  visit  to  their  kinsman 
living  on  the  St.  Joseph.  'J'he  commandant  was  ai)i)risL'd  that 
the  fort  was  surrounded  by  hostile  Indians.  At  this,  SciiJosser 
ran  out  of  his  apartment,  and  crossed  the  parade  grounds,  which 
were  full  of  Canadians  and  Indians.  He  entered  the  barracks, 
and  these  were  also  crowded  with  disorderly  and  insolent  savages. 
He  called  his  sergeant  to  get  the  soldiers  under  arms ;  and,  hurry- 
ing back  again  to  the  parade,  endeavored  to  muster  the  unwilling 
Canadians.  All  at  once  a  wild  cry  came  from  within  the  barracks, 
Avhen  the  Indians  in  the  fort  rushed  to  the  gate,  where  the\'  killed 
the  sentinel,  and  opened  the  gate  for  ingress  to  their  friends  with- 
out. In  less  than  two  minutes,  as  the  officer  declares,  the  fort 
was  plundered,  eleven  men  were  killed,  and  himself,  with  the 
three  survivors,  made  prisoners  and  bound  fast.* 

In  the  border  troubles  preceding  the  Revolutionary  War;  dur- 
ing the  latter  contest,  and  throughout  the  Indian  ditificulties  that 
followed  it,  down  to  the  close  of  Gen.  Waynes  successful  cam- 
paign against  the  confederated  Indian  tribes  in  i  794,  war-parties 
of  the  Pottawatomies  made  frequent  and  destructive  raids  along 
the  lines  of  the  settlements  in  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  Ohio, 
and  Indiana.  However,  those  of  this  tribe  living  upon  the 
Wabash  and  in  near  communication  with  Vincennes,  were  much 
less  annoying  in  this  regard;  and  several  of  their  chiefs  and 
bands  manifested  an  early  friendship  for  the  Americans,  whom 
they  called  their  brother,  the  Big-Knife.-^ 

thirteen  posts  were  saved.  P'orts  Detroit  and  I'itt,  after  withstanding  severe 
sieges,  were  relieved  by  forces  timely  sent  to  their  succor;  while  the  remain- 
ing one,  Fort  ^Niagara,  at  the  mouth  of  Niagara  River,  was  assailed  Ijy  the 
Senecas,  who  shortly,  after  abandoned  the  attempt,  fearing  the  hostility  of 
the  other  tribes  of  their  own  nation,  the  Iroquois,  whose  sympathies  were 
always  with  the  British. 

*  Vide  Parkmen's  "History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  l^ontiac,"  from  which  the 
foregoing  details  are  taken :  Ensign  John  Joseph  Schlosser,  a  native  (Jennan, 
capt.-lieut.  60  Reg't  Royal  Americans,  May  12,  1756;  capt.  July  20,  1758; 
at  the  siege  of  Ft.  Niagara  in  I759;  after  its  surrender,  commanded  a  po>t  on 
American  side  of  the  river  about  a  mile  above  the  Falls  and  below  the  mouth 
of  Gill  Creek,  which,  in  honor  of  him,  has  since  borne  the  name  of  "OKI 
Fort  Schlosser."  In  command  of  and  taken  prisoner  at  Ft.  St.  Joseph,  Michi- 
gan, May  25,  1763;  taken  to  Detroit  shortly  after,  and  exchanged;  was  serv- 
ing with  same  regiment  at  Philadelphia  in  1772.-"  Army  Li>ts";  "  Pcnn.  Ar- 
chives"; "Parkman's  Pontiac";  Military  Map  of  Niagara  frontier  in  W  m. 
James'  (British)  "Account  of  Occurrences  of  the  Late  War  (of  1812)  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States."  . 

t  The  Virginians,  Kentuckians,  and  other  early  border-men  usually  carried 


1/2  ILLINOIS   AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

They  were  greatly  influenced,  for  a  while,  by  the  schemes  of 
Tecumthe  and  his  brother,  the  Prophet,  in  a  much  less  prolonged 
degree,  however,  than  the  Kickapoos  and  several  of  the  other 
tribes;  and  a  fair  representation  of  their  warriors  took  part  in 
the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.* 

very  large  knives,  and  Gen.  Geo.  Rogers  Clark's  campaigners  were  notably 
equipped  in  this  way.  From  this  circumstance  the  Western  hunters  and  fighters 
were  called,  in  the  Miami-Illini  dialect,  S/ie-mol-sea,  meaning  the  big-knife. 
At  a  later  day,  the  same  name  under  the  Chippewayan  word  Che-mo-ko-mon 
was  extended  by  kindred  tribes  to  the  white  people  generally — always  except- 
ing the  Englishmen  proper,  whom  they  called  the  '•'■  Sag-e-nash'",  and  the  New 
Englanders,  whom  they  styled  '' Bos-to-ue-iy",  i.  e.,  the  Bostonians.  The  term 
is  derived  from  the  Miami  word,  Mal-s/iea,  or  Mol-sea,  a  knife,  or  the  Ojeb- 
way  Moo-ko-tnan,  which  means  the  same  thing;  while  the  prefix  she  or  che 
seems  to  emphasize  the  character  of  the  instrument  as  a  huge  or  long  knife. 
Such  is  the  origin  of  the  expression  "long-knives"  and  "big-knife",  frequently 
met  with  in  Indian  discourses,  and  in  books  where  Indian  characters  appear. 
*  Wa-bun-see,  The  Looking-glass,  principal  war-chief  of  the  prairie  band 
of  Pottawatomies,  residing  on  the  Kankakee  River  in  Illinois,  distinguished 
himself,  the  last  of  October,  iSii,  by  leaping  aboard  of  one  of  Gov.  Har- 
rison's supply  boats,  loaded  with  corn,  as  it  was  ascending  the  Wabash,  five 
miles  above  Terre  Haute,  and  killing  a  man,  and  making  his  escape  ashore 
without  injury. — Official  letter  of  Gov.  Harrison;  Reynolds'  "My  Own 
Times."  This  chief's  name  is  notably  connected  with  the  massacre  ^t  Chi- 
cago. While  he  approved  and  participated  in  the  deed,  through  the  stronger 
regards  of  personal  friendship,  he  tried  to  save  the  wounded  and  heroic  Capt. 
Wm.  Wells  from  a  pursuing  savage  of  his  own  nation  by  whom  the  death- 
stab  was  given;  and  he  was  one  of  the  five  Indians  who  stood  at  the  door  of 
Kinzie's  house,  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  guarding  its  inmates  from  a  terrible 
fate  that  would  have  surely  followed  but  for  their  timely  intervention.  He 
and  his  band  were  embraced  in  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Greenville, 
July  22,  1814;  and  ever  after  were  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  so-called  Black-Hawk  War  of  1832,  he  and  his  war- 
riors volunteered  their  services  to  the  whites,  and  campaigned  and  fought  by 
the  side  of  the  Illinois  militia.  The  chief  bore  conspicuous  parts  in  the 
several  treaties  conducted  at  Chicago,  and  was  well  known  and  is  still  remem- 
bered by  many  of  its  early  citizens.  In  1836,  his  people,  having  ceded  all 
their  lands  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  he  went  with  them  to  their  reservation 
near  Council  Bluffs.  A  fine  portrait  of  him  is  preserved  in  the  Indian  gal- 
lery at  Washington.  A  copy  of  it  would  be  appropriate  in  the  collections  of 
the  Historical  Society  of  the  great  city  of  the  West,  whose  aboriginal  remi- 
niscences this  society,  besides  a  wide  field  of  other  meritable  labor,  is  engaged 
in  gathering  and  storing  for  future  reference. 


THE    I'UTTAWATUMIES.  I  73 

The  official  letters  of  the  governors  of  the  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois Territories;  the  current  news  items  of  the  day,  piiblislied  in 
the  Viiicejines  Siin,  the  Missouri  Gazette  at  St.  Louis,  and  N'iles" 
Weekly  Register  at  Washington,  sufficiently  illustrate  the  threaten- 
ing attitude  of  the  Pottawatomies  (along  with  other  tribes)  before 
and  subsequent  to  the  collision  of  arms  at  the  Prophet's  Town; 
and  show  that  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  or  from  its  Province  of 
Canada,  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade  within  our  borders,  were 
but  so  many  busy  and  influential  agents  in  supitlying  the  Indians 
with  munitions  of  war,  and  stirring  up  a  discontent  among  them 
that  would  burst  into  aggressive  hostility  as  soon  as  war  should 
be  declared  between  the  two  powers.  And  when  the  war  was 
declared,  the  Pottawatomies  went  over  to  the  standard  of  (ireat 
Britain  in  a  body.  Their  first  blood  was  that  of  innocent  vic- 
tims, mingled  with  the  slaughter  of  a  body  of  brave  soldiers, 
whose  too-contiding  officer,  against  the  admonitions  of  those 
better  acquainted  with  the  treacherous  ways  of  Indians,  left  the 
fortress  and  exposed  his  men,  and  the  women  and  children  under 
liis  care  to  their  savage  fury.  The  horrors  of  the  massacre  at 
Chicago,  August  15,  1812,  have  been  so  often  told  and  published 
in  so  many  books,  as  to  render  their  repetition  wholly  unneces- 
sary here.  It  was  Pottawatomies  (assisted  probably  by  a  few 
Winnebaoges)  who  did  it;  and  their  several  bands  from  the  Illi- 
)  nois  and  Kankakee  rivers;  from  the  St.  Joseph  of  the  Lake,  and 
the  St.  Joseph  of  the  Maumee,  and  those  of  the  Wabash  and  its 
tributaries  were  all  represented  in  the  despicable  act.* 

Their  hostility  ceased  with  the  war  of  1812,  after  which  their 
relations  Avere  uniformly  peaceable;  and  they  endured  the  many 
impositions  and  grievances  put  upon  them  by  not  a  few  of  their 
unprincipled  and  unfeeling  white  neighbors,  with  a  forbearance 
that  ought  to  have  aroused  public  sympathy. 

*  The  statement  in  the  text  as  to  the  participants  in  the  Chicago  massacre, 
is  i^iven  in  harmony  with  all  contemporaneous  and  subsequent  accounts,  the 
single  exception  being  the  version  of  Walter  Jordan,  who  (in  a  letter  to  his 
wife,  dated  at  Ft.  Wayne,  Oct.  19,  1812,  and  which  appeared  in  Niles'  ll'fd/y 
Register  for  May  8,  1813)  says  the  retreating  gatrison  "were  attacked  by  6cx) 
Kickapoo  and  Wynabago  Indians. "  lie  is  as  clearly  mistaken  in  this  as  he 
is  in  several  other  statements  in  his  letter.  He  says  Capt.  Wells  had  with 
him  one  Imndred  confute  [Miami]  Indians,  and  that  these  >//W  the  enemy. 
Capt.  Heald,  the  commanding  officer,  says  Wells  had  about  thirty  Miamis.  a 
part  of  whom  were  placed  in  front,  while  the  remainder  brou-ht  up  in  the 
rear  as  an  escort;  and  that  they  refused  assistance  when  the  fight  came  on. 
.Samuel  R.  Brown,  in  his  valuable  history,  published  in  1815,  concurs;  while 
Mrs.  John  II.   Kin/.ie  (in  "Wau-Bun"),  drawing  her  material  from  several 


174  ILLINOIS    AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

After  their  migration  from  the  islands  near  the  outflow  of  (ireen 
Bay  southward,  they  seem  to  have  multiphed  with  wonderful 
fecundity.  Thg  time  of  this  movement  is  not  definitely  known. 
Their  advance  line  had  reached  the  St.  Joseph  as  early,  probably, 
as  the  year  1700.  The  same  writer  whose  description  of  the 
Pottawatomies  of  the  village  at  Detroit  in  17 18  we  have  quoted, 
says  they  came  from  the  St.  Joseph  River,  their  former  residence. 
They  were  the  most  populous  tribe  between  the  lakes  and  the 
Ohio,  the  Wabash  and  the  Mississippi;  they  claimed  Southeastern 
Wisconsin  from  long  occupation,  and  crowded  themselves  into 
the  ancient  territory  of  the  Miamis,  "their  younger  brothers,''  in 
Southern  Michigan  and  Northwestern  Indiana,  taking  possession 
through  sheer  force  of  superior  numbers,  rather  than  by  gage  of 
battle.  Always  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Kickapoos,  with  whom 
they  frequently  lived  in  mixed  villages,  they  joined  the  latter  and 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes  in  the  exterminating  war  upon  the  Illinois 
tribes,  and  afterward  obtained  their  allotment  of  the  despoiled 
domain.  By  other  tribes  the  Pottawatomies  were  called  "squat- 
ters", charged  with  never  having  had  any  lands  of  their  own,  and 
being  mere  intruders  upon  the  prior  estates  of  others.  "They 
were  foremost  at  all  treaties  where  lands  were  to  be  ceded,  clam- 
oring for  a  lion's  share  of  the  presents  and  annuities,  particularly 
where  these  last  was  the  price  paid  for  the  sale  of  others'  lands 
rather  than  their  own."'*'  Between  the  years  1789  and  1837, 
they,  by  themselves,  or  in  connection  with  other  tribes,  made  no 
less  than  thirty-eight  treaties  with  the  United  States,  all  of  which, 
excepting  two  orthree,  which  were  treaties  of  peace  only,  were 
for  alienations  of  lands  claimed  wholly  by  them  or  in  common 
with  other  tribes.  These  cessions  embraced  territory  extending 
from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  westward  to  the  Mississippi;  portions  of 
Wisconsin  and  Michigan  east  of  Oreen  f>ay  and  south  of  Mil- 
eye-witnesses,  and  whose  opportunities  for  acquiring  the  details  in  all  their 
minnthe  were  better,  perhaps,  than  those  of  any  other  person  who  has  ever 
written  on  the  subject,  says:  Capt.  Wells  had  only  fifteen  Miamis,  who  /ft/ 
at  the  outset;  and  that  their  chief  "rode  up  to  the  Pottawatomies  and  said: 
'  You  have  deceived  the  Americans  and  us.  Vou  have  done  a  bad  action  and 
(brandishing  his  tomahawk)  I  will  be  the  tirst  to  head  a  party  of  Americans 
to  return  and  punish  your  treachery.'  So  saying,  he  galloped  after  compani- 
ons who  were  now  scouring  across  the  prairies."  Mr.  Jordan  says  he  went 
from  Ft.  Wayne  to  Chicago  with  Capt.  Wells,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  made 
his  escape.  His  whole  letter  is  colored  with  exaggeration,  and  those  parts  of 
it  that  stand  contradicted  by  writers  more  competent  than  he  to  know  the 
facts,  are  not  to  be  relied  on. 

*  Schoolcraft's  "Central  Mississippi  Valley." 


THE    POTTAWATOMIES.  i;5 

waukee:  the  mouth  of  (Irand  River  and  the  south  end  of  l.akr 
Huron;  and  covering  a  hirge  part  of  the  valleys  of  the  llhnois. 
the  Wabash,  the  Maumee,  and  their  tributary  waters.  Contem- 
poraneous maps  and  government  surveys  display  their  numerous 
villages,  and  indicate  their  many  reservations  throughout  this 
vast  area  of  country.'' 

The  Indians  themselves  were  not  blind  to  the  ultimate  result 
of  the  relentless  demands  of  the  white  people  for  more  and  more 
of  their  lands.  On  several  occasions  when  they  confronted  the 
agents  of  the  general  government,  who  had  invited  them  to  coun- 
cil for  the  purpose  of  buying  still  another  part  of  their  posses- 
sions, they  protested,  as  best  they  could,  against  making  further 
sales.  A  notable  instance  of  this  occurred  at  the  treaty  con- 
cluded Aug.  29,  182 1,  at  Chicago,  111.,  with  the  Pottawatomie, 
Ottawa,  and  Chippeway  tribes.  By  this  treaty  the  United  States 
proposed  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to,  substantially,  all  that 
country  lying  south  of  Grand  River,  from  its  source  to  its  mouth; 
and  east  of  Lake  Michigan,  between  its  southern  extremity  and 
Grand  River;  bounded  on  the  south  by  a  line  drawn  from  the 
south  end  of  the  lake  east,  through  Northern  Indiana,  to  the 

*  Besides  the  villages  already  referred  to  in  this  volume,  the  Pottawatomie^ 
had  others  of  historical  interest,  namely:  a  large  settlement  on  the  "Mil-le- 
wac-kie"  (as  they  called  the  Milwaukee)  River;  on  the  "Schip-i-co-ten  ",  or 
Root  River,  at  the  conlluence  of  which  with  the  lake  is  the  city  of  Racine;  at 
'•  Wah-kuh-e-gun"  (the  fort),  or  Waukegan;  a  scattering  village  upon  both 
the  north  and  south  branches  of  the  "Chicago",  the  name  of  the  stream  sig- 
nifying a  skunk  in  its  primary,  and  a  wild  onion  in  its  secondary  sense;  others, 
on  the  "She-shick-ma-o-shi-ke"  (the  tree  from  which  the  water  flows),  or  the 
River  des  Plaines,  from  French-Canadian  word  J'taiiie  or  Pleiii,  meaning  a 
variety  of  maple  growing  along  its  borders;  and  still  other  towns  upon  the 
DuPage,  so  called  from  a  Frenchman  who  formerly  lived  and  died  on  its  banks, 
and  the  Pottawatomie  name  for  which  was  "O-to-ka-ke-nog"  (the  uncovered 
l)reast).  Westward  of  these  was  the  village  of  "Shaw-way-ne-be-nay"  (con- 
tracted to  Shab-eh-nay  and  Shau-be-nay),  at  "  As-sim-in-eh-kon",  or  Pawpaw 
(hove.  On  the  Illinois  River  and  its  northern  tributaries  above  Peoria  were 
still  others;  among  them  Cotno  or  Go/no's  town,  near  the  head  of  the  lake; 
"  Wabunsee's ",  or  "  Wau-pon-eh-see ",  near  the  mouth  of  "  Pish-ta-ka",  or 
"  Poish-tah-te-Awj/^ "  (antelope),  as  the  Natives  called  the  Fo.\  River  of  the 
Illinois;  while  "  Muck-e-te-po-kee's"  (the  black  partridge)  town  was  near  the 
mouth  of  the  "Au  Sable"  (French  for  Sandy  Creek),  three  miles  below  the 
junction  of  the  des  Plaines  and  the  Kankakee.  Higher  up  the  last-named  river, 
some  twenty  miles,  stood  the  town  of  the  notorious  "Main-poc",  ".Mai-pock", 
or  "Mai-po",  as  his  name  is  variously  spelled.     At  the  mouth  of  Rock  Creek, 


1/6  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

mouth  of  the  Au  Glaze  River  at  Defiance,  Ohio,  and  thence  north 
l)y  the  west  boundary-hne  of  a  previous  cession  to  the  source  of 
Grand  River  in  Michigan.  As  the  proceedings  of  this  treaty 
fairly  illustrate  the  manner  in  which  such  affairs  are  conducted,  a 
portion  of  them  are  given  here,  as  taken  down  at  the  time  by 
Hon.  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft,  who  was  officially  connected  with 
the  commission,  and  preserved  in  one  of  the  more  scarce  vol- 
umes of  his  several  narrative  journals.* 

"Aug.  14,  182 1.  ■•'  ■•■  ■•'  On  crossing  the  Desplaines,  we 
found  the  opposite  shore  thronged  with  Indians,  whose  loud  and 
obtrusive  salutations  caused  us  to  make  a  few  moments'  halt. 
From  this  point  we  were  scarcely  ever  out  of  sight  of  straggling 
parties,  all  proceeding  to  the  same  place.  Most  commonly  they 
were  mounted  on  horses,  and  apparelled  in  their  best  manner, 
decorated  with  medals,  silver  bands,  and  feathers.  The  gaudy 
and  showy  dresses  of  these  troops  of  Indians,  with  the  jingling 
caused  by  the  striking  of  their  ornaments,  and  their  spirited  man- 
ner of  riding,  created  a  scene  as  novel  as  it  was  interesting. 
Proceeding  from  all  parts  of  a  very  extensive  circle  of  country, 

at  Kankakee  City,  and  Yellow-Heads  Point,  a  few  miles  north  of  Momence, 
were  the  respective  villages  of  "  Shaw-waw-nay-see"  (the  Shawnee);  "  She- 
mar-ger"  (the  soldier);  and  "  Min-ne-mung"  (the  yellow  head).  The  latter's 
sister  was  the  wife  of  Billy  Caldwell,  whose  name  is  so  intimately  connected 
■with  early  Chicago.  —  Vide  paper  by  the  Hon.  Wm.  Hickling,  published  in 
No.  10  of  the  Ff.rgis  Historical  .Series.  Reservations  at  the  three  last- 
named  villages  were  secured  to  the  above  presiding  chiefs  b}'  the  Treaty  of 
Camp  Tippecanoe,  held  near  Logansport,  Ind.,  October  20,  1832;  and,  with 
other  reserves  in  those  neighborhoods,  were  surveyed  off  in  the  presence  of 
the  beneficiaries  and  Gen.  Tipton,  Indian  agent,  by  the  writer's  father,  Major 
Dan.  W.  Beckwith,  U.  S.  Deputy  Surveyor,  in  May,  1834. 

More  numerous  and  populous  villages  of  the  Pottawatomies  were  in  South- 
ern Michigan  and  Northern  Indiana,  on  the  St.  Joseph,  the  Kalamazoo  (these 
Indians  called  it  Kek-a-la-ma-zoo,  signifying  a  "boiling  pot"),  and  the  several 
streams  flowing  into  the  Detroit  River  and  Maumee  Bay,  between  Detroit  and 
Toledo.  Of  these  may  be  named  that  of  "To-pen-ne-bee",  their  great  heredi- 
tary chief,  at  "Pare  aux  Vaches"  (the  cow-pen),  as  the  Canadian- French 
traders  facitiously  nick-named  the  vicinity  of  old  Fort  St.  Joseph;  "  Chip-pe- 
outi-pe",  at  South  Bend;  and  the  villages  of  the  Five  Medals  and  "  Wap-pe- 
me-me"  (the  white  pigeon),  higher  up  the  river.  North  and  westward  of  the 
Wabash  were  others;  "Chit-cha-kos"  on  the  Tippecanoe,  and  "Chip-poy", 
twenty-five  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  latter  stream.  Others  might  be 
named,  but  enough  have  been  given  to  illustrate  the  assertion  of  the  text. 

*  His  "Travels,  etc.,  in  the  Central  Mississippi  Valley." 


THE   POTT  AW  ATOMIES.  1 77 

like  rays  converging  to  a  focus,  the  nearer  we  approached,  the 
more  compact  and  concentrated  the  body  became;  and  we  found 
our  cavalcade  rapidly  augmented.  Consequently,  the  dust,  con- 
fusion, and  noise  increased  at  every  by-path  that  intersected  our 
way.  After  crossing  the  south-fork  of  the  Chicago,  and  emerg- 
ing from  the  forest  that  skirts  it,  nearly  the  whole  number  of 
those  who  had  preceded  us  appeared  on  the  extensive  and  level 
l)lain  that  stretches  along  the  shore  of  the  lake,  while  the  refresh- 
ing and  noble  spectacle  of  the  lake  itself,  with  'vast  and  sullen 
swell',  appeared  beyond.  We  found,  on  reaching  the  post,  that 
between  two  and  three  thousand  Indians  were  assembled — chiefly 
Pottawatomies,  Ottawas,  and  Chippeways.  Many  arrived  on  the 
following  days;  and  provisions  were  daily  issued  by  the  Indian 
department,  to  about  three  thousand,  daily,  during  the  treaty. 
To  accommodate  the  large  assemblage  mentioned,  an  open 
bower,  provided  with  seats  for  the  principal  chiefs  and  headmen, 
had  been  put  up  on  the  green,  extending  along  the  north  bank 
of  Chicago  Creek.  [Near  the  old  John  Kinzie  house.]  This 
site,  being  at  some  distance  from  the  principal  encampments, 
and  directly  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  ensured  both  safety  and 
order  for  the  occasion.  The  formalities  which  custom  has  pre- 
scribed in  negotiations  of  this  kind,  occupied  the  first  two  or 
three  days  after  our  arrival,  during  which  the  number  of  Indians 
was  constantly  augmenting.  It  was  not  until  the  17th  that  they 
were  formally  met  in  council,  when  Governor  [Lewis]  Cass,  on 
behalf  of  the  commissioners  [Solomon  Sibley  was  then  the  asso- 
ciate-commissioner], stated  to  them  the  following  proposition: — 

"Your  father  [referring  to  the  president  of  the  United  States] 
has  observed  that  you  possess  an  extensive  country  about  the  St. 
Joseph,  which  you  do  not  cultivate  nor  appear  to  want.  He  has 
instructed  us  to  come  here  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  purchase 
of  a  part  of  that  land,  and  to  pay  you  a  liberal  price  for  it,  which 
we  shall  agree  upon.  The  quantity  of  game  you  now  kill  in  that 
part  of  the  country  is  very  litde— almost  nothing:  and  we  can 
give  you  for  it  that  which  will  be  more  valuable  and  serviceable 
to  yourselves.  We  have  brought  with  us  a  large  amount  of  goods 
to  be  distributed  among  you;  and  we  shall  also  stipulate  to  ixay 
you  a  certain  sum  of  money  annually.  It  was  agreed  by  the 
Treaty  of  St.  Marys  to  pay  you  an  annuity  of  one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  by  the  Treaty  of ,  one  thou- 
sand dollars ;  both  of  which  sums  of  money  are  now  here  and  read>- 
to  be  paid  to  you.*     Should  we  conclude  an  agreement  for  the 

*  The  St.  Marys  referred  to  was  a  stockade  erected  in  1794  by  Gen.  Wayne 
as  a  depot  for  his  military  supplies,  at  the  Portage  of  the  St.  Marys'  River, 
12 


178  ILLINOIS   AND   INDIANA   INDIANS. 

purchase  of  the  lands  on  the  St.  Joseph,  we  feel  wilUng  that  such 
reservations  shall  be  made  as  may  be  proper.  It  will  be  many 
years  before  the  country  will  be  settled  by  the  Americans;  during 
all  that  time  you  will  retain  possession  of  the  lands,  at  the  same 
time  that  you  are  drawing  your  annuities  for  them.  *  *  * 
You  can  take  time  to  consider  the  proposition  we  have  now 
made.  Counsel  among  yourselves,  and  deliver  your  answer  as 
soon  as  you  can  agree.  Above  all,  let  me  entreat  you  to  refrain 
from  whisky  durmg  the  treaty,  that  you  may  be  able  to  see  justice 
done  to  yourselves.      '■' 

Each  sentence,  being  distinctly  translated,  was  received  with  a 
Ho-ah! — a  term  that  on  these  occasions  merely  indicates  atten- 
tion. The  interjection  (subjoins  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  a  foot-note), 
when  strongly  emphasized  and  responded  by  many  voices,  alsO' 
denotes  approbation— and  is  nearly  equivalent  to  our  "hear  him  I"" 
and  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  perceive  by  the  maiincr  of  its  enuncia- 
tion whether  the  matter  spoken  excites  pleasure,  indifference,  or 
disapprobation. 

A  short  pause  ensued,  during  which  the  customary  presents 
were  issued,  when  Me-te-a,  a  Pottawatomie  chief  ixom  the 
Wabash,*''  made  the  following  laconic  reply: — 

"My  Father:  —  We  have  Hstened  to  what  you  have  said. 
We  will  now  return  to  our  camps  and  consult  upon  it.  You  will 
hear  nothing  more  from  us  at  present." 

The  council  being  again  convened  on  the  19th,  the  same  Pot- 
Mercer  Co.,  Ohio;  and  last  commanded  by  Capt.  John  Whistler,  who  succes- 
sively commanded  at  Forts  St.  Mary,  Wayne,  and  old  Fort  Dearborn  at  Chi- 
cago; the  latter  he  built  in  1803. 

The  blank  space  in  Gen.  Cass'  address  before  the  words  "  one  thousand 
dollars",  should  be  supplied  by  inserting  the  "Treaty  of  Edwardsville",  111., 
Aug.  24,  1816,  by  which  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the 
water  communication,  since  improved  as  the  "  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal", 
purchased  from  the  united  Pottawatomie,  Ottawa,  and  Chippeway  tribes, 
"residing  on  the  Illinois  and  Milwaukee  rivers  and  their  waters,  and  the  south- 
western parts  of  Lake  Michigan",  a  strip  of  land  ten  miles  wide  on  both 
sides  o'i  the  same,  and  extending  from  the  mouth  of  Fox  River  at  Ottawa,  111., 
easterly  to  the  confluence  of  Chicago  Creek  with  Lake  Michigan. 

*  Mus-qua  Was-e-peo-tan  (the  old  town  of  Redwood  or  Cedar  Creek),  of 
which  Me-te-a  was  presiding  war  and  civil  chief,  was  situated  near  the  con- 
fluence of  that  stream  with  the  St.  Joseph  of  the  Maumee,  some  nine  miles 
northeast  of  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind. — "Long's  Second  Expedition";  other  accoimts; 
and  contemporaneous  maps,  etc. 


THE   rOTTAWATQMIES.  1  79 

awatomie  was  delegated  by  the  three  tribes  to  deliver  their  rejilv 
to  Gen.  Cass'  speech.     Me-te-a  arose  and  said:  — 

"My  Father: — We  meet  you  here  today,  because  we  had 
promised  it,  to  tell  you  our  mind  and  what  we  liave  agreed 
among  ourselves.  You  Avill  listen  to  us  with  a  good  mind,  and 
believe  what  we  say.  My  father,  you  know  that  we  first  came  to 
this  country  a  long  time  ago,  and  sat  ourselves  down  upon  it; 
we  met  with  a  great  many  hardships  and  difficulties  [referring  to 
their  wars  with  its  former  occupants].  Our  country  was  then 
very  large;  but  it  has  dwindled  away  to  a  small  spot;  and  you 
wish  to  purchase  that !  This  has  caused  us  to  reflect  much  upon 
what  you  have  told  us;  and  we  have,  therefore,  brought  along  all 
the  chiefs  and  warriors,  and  the  young  men,  and  women,  and 
children  of  our  tribe,  that  one  part  may  not  do  what  the  others 
object  to;  and  that  all  may  be  witnesses  of  what  is  going  forward. 

"My  Father: — You  know  your  children.  Since  you  first 
came  among  them,*  they  have  always  hearkened  to  your  coun- 
cils. Whenever  you  have  had  a  proposal  to  make  us — whenever 
you  have  had  a  favor  to  ask  of  us,  we  have  always  lent  a  favor- 
able ear;  and  our  invariable  answer  has  been  'Yes."  This  you 
know. 

"My  Father: — A  long  time  has  passed  since  we  first  came 
upon  our  lands;  and  our  old  people  have  all  sunk  into  their 
graves.  They  had  sense.  We  are  all  young  and  foolish,  and  do 
not  wish  to  do  anything  that  they  would  not  approve,  were  they 
living.  We  are  fearful  we  shall  offend  their  spirits  if  we  sell  our 
lands;  and  we  are  fearful  we  shall  offend  jv//  if  we  dont  sell  them. 
This  has  caused  us  great  perplexity  of  thought,  because  we  have 
counselled  among  ourselves,  and  do  not  know  how  we  can  part 
with  the  land.  My  Father:— Our  country  was  given  us  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  who  gave  it  to  us  to  hunt  upon;  to  make  our  corn- 
fields upon;  to  live  upon;  and  to  make  down  our  beds  upon 
when  we  die.  And  he  would  never  forgive  us,  should  we  now 
bargain  it  away.  When  you  first  spoke  to  us  for  lands  at  St. 
Marys,+  we  said  we  had  a  litde,  and  agreed  to  sell  you  a  piece  of 

*  Gen.  Cass  had  been  in  charge  of  government  affairs  over  these  tribes  for 
many  years,  and  acquired  an  extensive  acquaintance;  had  conducted  a  number 
of  treaties  with  them;  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  them  for  his  uniformly  kind 
and  honorable  treatment  in  all  official  and  social  relations  with  them. 

t  At  St.  Marys,  Ohio,  mentioned  in  a  previous  note,  where,  Oct.  2,  181S, 
Gen.  Cass,  with  Jonathan  Jennings  and  Capt.  Benj.  Park  of  Indiana,  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  the  Pottawatomie  tribe  for  tlic  purchase  of  a  large  tract 


l8o  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

it;   but  we  told   you  we  could  spare  no  more.      Now  you  ask 
us  again'    You  are  never  satisfied! 

"My  Father: — -We  have  sold  you  a  great  tract  of  land* 
already;  but  it  is  not  enough!  We  sold  it  to  you  for  the  benefit 
of  your  children,  to  farm  and  to  live  upon.  \\q  have  now  but 
little  left;  and  we  shall  want  it  for  ourselves.  We  know  not  how 
long  we  may  live,  and  we  wish  to  have  some  lands  for  our  chil- 
dren to  hunt  upon.  You  are  gradually  taking  away  our  hunting- 
grounds.  Your  children  are  driving  us  before  them.  We  are 
growing  uneas)'.  What  lands  you  have  you  may  retain  forever: 
but  we  shall  sell  no  more. 

"My  Father: — You  think,  perhaps,  that  1  speak  in  anger;  but 
my  heart  is  good  toward  you.  I  speak  like  one  of  your  children. 
I  am  an  Indian — a  red-skin,  and  live  by  hunting  and  fishing. 
My  country  is  already  too  small;  and  I  do  not  know  how  to 
bring  up  my  children  if  I  give  it  all  away.  We  sold  you  a  fine 
tract  of  land  at  St.  Marys. t  We  said  then  to  you,  it  was  enough 
to  satisfy  your  children,  and  the  last  we  would  sell;  and  we 
thought  it  would  be  the  last  you  would  ask  for. 

"My  Father: — We  have  now  told  you  what  we  had  to  say.  It 
was  determined  on  in  council  among  ourselves;  and  what  I  have 
spoken  is  the  voice  of  my  nation.  On  this  account  all  of  our 
people  have  come  here  to  listen  to  me;  but  do  not  think  we  have 
a  bad  opinion  of  you.  Where  should  we  get  a  bad  opinion  of 
you?  We  speak  to  you  with  a  good  heart  and  the  feelings  of  a 
friend. 

"My  Father: — You  are  acquainted  with  this  piece  of  land — 
the  country  we  live  m.X     Shall  we  give  it  up?     Take  notice,  it  is 

of  country  lying  in  Central-western  Indiana  and  Eastern  Illinois,  fronting  on 
the  Wabash  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tippecanoe  to  the  mouth  of  the  \'ermilion, 
and  extending  westward  to  a  line  drawn  as  nearly  parallel  with  the  Wabash 
as  practicable,  so  as  to  strike  the  two  latter  streams  twenty-five  miles  from 
their  respective  confluence  with  the  Wabash;  and  now  embraced  in  parts  of 
Tippecanoe,  White,  Benton,  all  of  Warren,  the  north  half  of  Vermilion 
counties  in  Indiana,  and  the  greater  portion  of  Vermilion  County  in  Illinois. 

*  Referring  to  the  several  other  treaties  at  which  extensive  tracts  of  land 
claimed  by  them  had  been  ceded. 

t  Me-te-a  participated  at  the  Treaty  of  .St.  Marys,  and  his  name  appears 
among  the  signers  of  the  treaty. 

X  Through  the  war  of  1812,  and  during  his  long  relations  as  governor  of 
Michigan  Territory,  and  at  the  head  of  the  Western  Indian  Department, 
there  was,  perhaps,  no  one  better  acquainted  with  this  suburb  country  in 
question  than  Gen.  Cass. 


THE    rOTTAWATOMIES.  l8l 

a  small  piece  of  land,  and  if  we  give  it  up,  what  will  become  of 
us?  The  Great  Spirit,  who  has  provided  it  for  our  use,  allows  us 
to  keep  it  to  bring  up  our  young  men  and  sui)])ort  our  families. 
We  shall  incur  his  anger  if  we  barter  it  away.  If  we  liad  more- 
land,  you  should  get  more;  but  our  land  has  been  wasting  away 
ever  since  the  white  peoi)le  became  our  neighbors,  until  now  we 
have  hardly  enough  left  to  cover  the  bones  of  our  tribe. 

"My  Father:  — You  are  in  the  midst  of  your  red  children. 
What  is  due  to  us  in  money,  we  wish  and  will  receive  it  at  this 
place.* 

"My  Father: — We  all  shake  hands  with  yon. "I"  llehold  our 
warriors,  our  women  and  children.  Take  pity  on  us  and  on  our 
words.'" 

Mr.  Schoolcraft  says  in  a  note  at  this  place:  "I  wish  it  to  be 
distinctly  understood,  that  in  my  reports  of  these  speeches  I  have 
adhered,  literally,  to  the  spirit  and  form  of  e.xpression  of  the 
interpreters,  and  have  seldom  ventured  to  change  the  particular 
phraseology.  This  will  be  apparent  on  perusal,  and  will  account 
for  the  familiar  cast  of  many  of  the  sentences.  Authenticity  was 
deemed  a  paramount  object,  and  to  the  attainment  of  this,  I  have 
sacrificed  all  attempt  at  ornament  or  embellishment.  Hy  this 
course,  undoubtedly,  great  injustice  is  done  to  the  spirit  of  the 
original;  but  it  must  be  recollected  that  it  is  not  the  original,  but 
the  verbal  interpretation  that  I  have  undertaken  to  preserve.'" 
The  foot-notes  of  the  writer  to  Me-te-a's  speech,  are  supplied  to 
give  clearness  to  passages  or  allusions  that,  to  the  reader  of 
today,  might  otherwise  seem  vague  or  lacking  in  force.  Consid- 
ered as  a  categorical  reply  to  Gen.  Cass'  address,  and  as  a  resume 
of  the  relations  of  the  white  people  toward  the  red  man  on  the 
North  American  Continent,  particularly  the  tribes  in  question, 
involving  the  ultimate  destruction  of  the  latter,  as  the  inexorable 
result  of  the  contact;  the  speech  of  Me-te-a,  mangled  as  it  was 
and  shorn  of  its  strength  and  imagery  in  rendering  it  into  Eng- 
lish, is  logical,  persuasive,  pithy,  and  to  the  [Joint;  and  shows  that 
.this  uneducated  savage,  like  many  others  of  his  race,  possessed 
'a  capacity  of  mind  and  gifts  of  oratory  not  inferior  to  those  of 
the  white  people. :[ 

*  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  at  Edwardsville,  the  annuity  was  to  he  paid  at 
some  place  on  the  IlHnois  River  not  lower  down  than  I'eoria;  while  the 
moneys  agreed  to  be  given  yearly,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  .St. 
Marys,  were  to  be  paid  half  at  Detroit  and  the  residue  at  Chicago.  Me-tc-a 
accepts  Gen.  Cass'  offer  to  receive  it  at  Chicago,  instead. 
t  "A  figurative  expression",  says  Schoolcraft,  "much  used." 
i  Chica<T0  was  familiar  ground  to  Me-te-a,  and  his  hands  were  stained  with 


1 82  ILLINOIS    AND    INDIANA    INDIANS. 

The  Pottawatomies  were  among  tlie  last  to  close  out  their 
reservations  and  retire  beyond  the  Mississippi.  They  were  loth 
to  give  up  their  old  homes;  and  for  years  mingled  on  friendly 
terms  with  the  early  white  settlers.  The  final  emigration  from 
the  Wabash  and  St.  Joseph  was  deferred  until  1838.  Coercive 
measures  were  required  in  the  removal  of  the  bands  from  the 
latter  river.  The  Kankakee  and  some  of  the  other  Illinois  bands, 
as  stated  in  a  former  foot-note,  went  westward  some  two  years 
before. 

In  1846,  the  scattered  families  of  the  Pottawatomies,  Ottawas, 
and  Chippeways  were  united  to  be  thereafter  known  as  the  Potta- 
watomie Nation.  For  $850,000,  to  be  paid  them  by  the  United 
States,  they  released  all  claims  to  their  several  reservations  in 
Iowa,  Missouri,  or  in  any  other  place  whatever.  In  lieu  of 
$87,000  of  the  above  sum,  they  took  576,000  acres  of  land  of 
the  general  government,  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Kansas 
River,  I'opeka,  Kansas,  being  very  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the 
tract.  \\'hile  Kansas  was  going  through  its  territorial  stages,  the 
so-called  "squatter  sovereigns"  intruded  upon  these  lands,  sold 
the  Pottawatomies  whisky  and  spread  a  general  demoralization 
among  them.  The  white  trespassers  killed  the  stock  of  the 
farmer  Indians,  burned  some  of  their  habitations,  and  resorted 
to  all  the  well-known  methods  practised  on  the  borders,  time  out 
of  mind,  to  make  it  unpleasant  for  the  Indians  who  were  here 
struggling  up  successfully  from  barbarism  to  the  wa}'s  of  civilized 
society.  The  usual  result,  a  dismemberment  of  the  reservation, 
followed.  The  farmer  Indians,  so  desiring,  had  their  portions  set 
off  in  severalty;  the  wilder  members  of  the  tribe  had  their  share 
allotted  in  common.  For  the  most  part,  the  squatters  got  the 
lands  of  the  first,  while  an  alleged  needy  railroad  corporation* 
was  subsidized  with  the  latter. 

From  the  several  reports  of  the  commissioners  of  Indian  affairs 

the  blood  of  the  massacre  there  in  1812.  The  same  autumn,  liis  right  arm 
was  shattered,  and  ever  after  hung  a  withered  limb  at  his  side,  from  a  bullet 
wound  received,  near  Ft.  Wayne,  from  a  skirmisher  in  advance  of  Gov.  Har- 
rison's forces  marching  to  the  relief  of  that  place.  The  last  council  he 
attended,  says  Gen.  John  Lipton  of  Indiana,  was  at  Ft.  Wayne  in  1827, 
where  the  dignity  and  propriety  of  his  conduct  was  a  subject  of  remark.  The 
business  at  an  end,  he  remarked  that  he  must  liave  a  frolic.  He  got  drunk, 
and  roamed  the  village  in  a  frenzy,  demanding  more  liquor.  At  last,  as  was 
supposed,  he  took  a  bottle  of  aipta  fortis  from  a  shop-window,  and  drank  it, 
and  died  from  its  effects  within  half-an-hour  afterward. 

*  The  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  R.  K.  Co. 


THE    I'OTTAWATOMIES.  •  183 

for  the  year  1863,  it  appears  that  there  was  2274  in  tlio  tribe,  all 
told;  that  the  farmers  among  them  raised  3720  l)iishels  of  wheat; 
45,000  of  corn;  1200  of  oats;  and  1000  tons  of  hay;  and  thai 
they  owned  1000  cattle,  1200  horses,  and  2000  hogs.  'I'he  same 
year,  there  were  ninety-five  boys  and  seventy-five  girls;  and  in 
1866  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  forty  scholars  attending  the 
Catholic  school  at  St.  Marys,  a  few  miles  north  of  Topeka,  where 
they  were  making  gratifying  i)rogress. 

Some  seventy-five  of  their  young  warriors  volunteered  on  the 
union  side  during  the  late  civil  war,  and  faithfully  served  "their 
country."  There  was  no  way  of  computing  their  numbers  accu- 
rately— so  many  of  the  young  and  adventurous  having  strayed 
away  in  quest  a  more  exciting  life; — still,  in  1867,  out  of  a  popu- 
lation of  2400,  1400  elected  to  become  citizens  of  the  United 
States  under  an  enabling  act  passed  by  Congress.  Some  did 
well  by  the  change;  while  others  squandered  their  lands,  and 
went  away  and  joined  the  wild  bands  or  mixed  with  other  tribes 
out  upon  the  plains.  There  are  still  a  few  left  in  Indiana  and 
Michigan,  and  over  a  hundred  in  Wisconsin. 


Fergus  Printing  Company.  Chicago. 


TH  !•: 


LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS 


AXI> 


A  Sketch  of  the  Pottawatoinics. 


READ    BKFORK    THr. 

CHICAGO    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY, 

Decemhkk  13,  1870, 

JOHN  DEAN   CATON,  LL.D. 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINIING   COMPANY, 
244-8  Illinois  Street, 

1876. 


On  the  evening  of  December  13,  1870,  the  Honorable  JoHX  D. 
Caton,  LL.  D.,  late  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  lUmois,  read  before 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society  a  paper  entitled  "The  Last  of  the 
Illinois,  and  a  Sketch  of  the  Pottawatomies. "  Upon  the  conclusion 
of  which,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Arnold,  seconded  by  Jas.  I-.  Stark, 
Esq.,  it  was  unanimously — 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  So'ciety  are  tendered  to  the  Hon. 
John  Dean  Caton  for  the  able  and  interesting  paper  he  has  read,  and 
that  he  be  requested  to  place  the  same  among  the  archives  of  the 
Society  and  furnish  a  copy  for  publication. 


The  Last  of  the  Illinois. 


Of  the  ancieut  civilizations  we  know  l)ut  little.     The  Ijcf^in- 

to 

nings  of  the  EgyiDtians,  the  Etrurians,  the  Grecians,  tlic 
Romans,  and  even  the  Milesians,  are  either  entirely  shrouded 
in  the  dark  shadows  of  the  far  distant  past,  or  are  only  I'lt 
up  by  the  feeble  rays  afforded  by  uncertain  fiiblcs  or  mythical 
traditions.  Even  far  beyond  these,  great  peoples  lived,  whose 
existence  and  civilization  are  testified  to,  by  broken  monu- 
ments and  ruined  architecture,  widely  scattered,  especially  over 
Arabia,  and  some  parts  of  Africa,  while  in  our  own  country 
and  particularly  in  Yucatan,  we  see  by  their  works  that 
nations  have  lived  of  whom  wc  know  absolutely  nothing 
as  to  whence  they  came  or  whither  they  have  gone. 

Geologists  tell  us  of  older  peoples  who  occupied  many  por- 
tions of  our  globe,  whose  times  they  have  divided  into  differ- 
ent ages,  as  the  stone  age,  the  bronze  age,  and  the  iron  age, 
because  of  the  materials  which  they  used  in  their  arts,  but  of 
their  coming  and  their  going  they  can  tell  us  nothing,  except 
that  they  existed  one  after  another  and  ceased  to  be.  Whence 
came  the  mound-builders  of  our  own  land,  or  those  who 
worked  the  copper  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  or  those  whose 
old  inscriptions  are  found  on  the  great  stones  of  New  Me.\ico, 
or  when  they  disappeared,  none  can  tell ;  they  lived,  made 
their  record,  and  are  gone,  all  else  is  as  silent  and  as  dark  as 
the  tomb  that  covers  them.  Yet,  in  all  these  records  history 
is  written,  dim  and  shadowy  though  it  be,  still  it  is  history, 
and  we  seize  upon  each  sentence  of  it  as  upon  a  precious 
treasure,  and  we  ponder  it  and  strain  our  eyes  to  Hnd  more 
than  it  really  tells,  but  the  misty  veil  of  antiquity  hangs  "v.-i 
it,  and  finally  we  turn  away  unsatisfied. 

When  America  was  first  visited  by  Europeans,  at  Ica^jt  those 
who  recorded   what   they  saw,  it    was  occupied   by  barbarou;; 


4  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

tribes,  some  much  more  advanced  than  otliers,  but  still  all 
were  barbarians.  Tradition, •  among  the  more  advanced,  pre- 
tended to  tell  how  their  ancestors  had  come  from  more  north- 
ern climes,  till  finally  they  settled  in  the  milder  countries  of 
Mexico  or  Peru,  where  they  attained  a  sort  of  semi-civilization 
far  in  advance  of  the  wilder  nations,  either  to  the  north  or 
south  of  them,  but  whether  their  ancestors  were  the  mound- 
builders  or  the  copper-workers,  who  once  lived  where  we  live, 
and  were  driven  away  by  fierce  northern  hordes,  more  athletic 
than  they,  or  peacefully  left  the  land  in  search  of  a  climate  less 
rigorous,  we  can  never  know,  nor  can  we  satisfy  ourselves  of  the 
degree  of  credence  which  we  should  place  in  their  own  tradi- 
tions as  told  by  their  old  men  to  the  first  Europeans  who  saw 
them,  and  by  whom  their  stories  have  been  handed  down  to  us. 

We  do  know,  certainly,  that  when  the  Atlantic  coast  was  first 
visited  by  white  men,  who  have  transmitted  to  us  accounts  of 
what  they  saw,  they  found  here  tribes  of  Indians  who  subsisted 
principally  by  fishing  and  the  chase,  although  they  practised 
agriculture  to  a  limited  extent,  for  they  supplied  the  first 
immigrants  to  New  England  with  corn  from  their  hidden 
stores.  The  early  explorers  occasionally  found  the  same  grain 
cultivated  in  the  valley  of  the  ^Mississippi,  and  Lewis  and 
Clarke  procured  supplies  of  it  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  Still 
their  agriculture  was  too  limited  to  have  had  much  influence  on 
the  density  of  pojjulation ;  and  without  the  cultivated  products 
of  the  soil  no  country  can  sustain  a  large  population  of  men, 
if  we  except  some  tropical  countries  where  spontaneous  fruits 
are  in  perpetual  season,  and  even  there  the  aboriginal  popula- 
tion was  found  to  be  very  sparse  as  compared  with  countries 
where  agriculture  furnishes  the  principal  sustenance  to  man. 

From  the  changes  which  had  recently  taken  place  among 
the  original  inhabitants  of  this  country,  when  they  were  first 
discovered,  as  told  by  their  old  men,  and  also  from  the  changes 
which  occurred  after  their  discovery,  but  before  the  extermin- 
ating influence  of  civilization  bore  upon  them,  we  may  safely 
assume  that  national  and  even  tribal  formations  had  been 
<[uite  recent,  yet  recent  as  they  no  doubt  were,  we  know  almost 
nothing  of  them.  While  we  know  that  some  nations  became 
totally  extinct  by  reason  of  aboriginal  warfare  alone,  we  cannot 
point  to  a  single  instance  of  the  birth  and  growth  of  any  native 


AND  A  SKETCJI  OF  THE  PO TTAWATo.MlKS.        r, 

tribe,  unless   the   uniting  of  the  remnants  of  several    broken 
tribes  into  one,  may  be  so  considered. 

At  last  we  are  forced  back  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  only 
comparatively  in  modern  times  and  of  civilized  comniunities 
that  history,  whether  written  in  books  or  among  tlie  rocks, 
tells  us  of  the  origin  of  nations.  To  this  we  can  mention  one 
notable  excei)tion.  By  divine  inleiposition,  we  are  told  of  the 
beginning  and  of  the  progress,  and  by  profane  history  of  the 
final  extinction  of  one  of  the  great  ancient  nations  of  the  earth. 
There  we  are  told  of  its  founder,  Abraham,  of  its  struggles,  of 
its  triumphs  and  its  misfortunes,  of  its  victories  and  its  defeats, 
of  its  pure  worship  and  its  gross  idolatry,  and  of  its  final 
extinction  as  a  nation  under  the  Roman  Empire. 

Necessarily,  the  history  of  the  aborigines  of  this  country  is 
confined  to  the  period  since  their  first  discovery  by  the  educated 
man,  and  to  the  few  uncertain  traditions  told  by  them  of  their 
comparatively  very  recent  times,  and  most  of  these  traditions 
as  handed  down  to  us  are  purely  of  a  mythological  cliaracter, 
and  serve  to  teach  us  of  the  nature  of  the  imagination  or  mental 
condition  of  the  native  rather  than  of  actual  facts  that  had 
gone  before.  Nor  do  those  who  have  made  the  study  of  the 
native  American  a  specialty  seem  to  have  given  that  stucfy  the 
form  of  connected  history  to  any  large  degree,  and  he  that 
would  inform  himself  of  such  history  must  gather  it  from  a 
thousand  difl'ei'ent  .sources,  picking  up  a  grain  here  and  theit-. 
as  he  can  find  it. 

More  than  thirty-seven  years  ago,  when  I  first  became  a 
citizen  of  Chicago,  I  found  this  whole  country  occupied  as  the 
bunting  grounds  of  the  Pottawatomie  Indians.  I  soon  lormetl 
the  acquaintance  of  many  of  their  chiefs,  and  this  acquaintance 
ripened  into  a  cordial  friendship.  I  found  them  really  intelli- 
gent and  jDOssessed  of  much  information  resulting  from  their 
careful  observation  of  natural  objects.  I  traveled  with  them 
over  the  prairies,  I  hunted  and  i  fished  with  them,  I  cam])ed 
with  them  in  the  groves,  I  drank  with  them  at  tlie  native 
springs,  of  which  they  were  never  at  a  loss  to  find  one,  an<l  I 
partook  of  their  hospitality  around  their  camp  fires. 

Wild  scenes  have  always  had  a  charm  for  me.  I  have  ever 
been  a  lover  of  nature,  and  the  enjoyment  of  those  scenes  when 
prairie  and  woodland,  lake  shore  and  river  were  almost  every- 


6  THE  LA.ST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

where  as  nature  made  them,  have  left  behind  a  pleasing  mem- 
ory which  sometimes  makes  me  almost  wish  that  I  could  live 
over  again  my  younger  days.  Since  nature's  handiwork  has 
been  defaced  all  around  us  ))y  the  hand  of  civilized  man,  I  love 
to  hie  away  to  distant  shores  and  the  far-off  mountains,  and 
with  a  few  friends  of  tastes  similar  to  my  own,  enjoy  the 
wild  scenery  among  the  rock-bound  islands  of  Puget's  Sound, 
or  the  still  solitude  of  the  high  Sierras.  Who  would  have 
thought,  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  that  he  who  then  here 
enjoyed  the  charms  which  nature  throws  over  all  her  works, 
would  ever  seek  the  far-off  scenes  of  the  Pacific  slopes  in  which 
to  indulge  his  favorite  reveries'?  There  are  some  who  hear  me 
now,  who  remember  the  lake  beach,  with  its  conical  sand-hills 
covered  oyer  by  the  evergreen  juniper,  whose  fragrance  loaded 
with  a  rich  aroma  the  soft  breeze  as  it  quietly  crept  in  from 
the  rippling  waters  of  the  lake. 

That  old  lake  shore,  fashioned  as  God  had  made  it  by  his 
winds  and  waves  for  ten  thousand  years  before,  had  more 
charms  for  me,  than  since  the  defacing  hand  of  man  has  builded 
there  Inroad  avenues  and  great  marble  palaces,  which  are  as  far 
beneath  the  works  of  nature's  Architect,  as  man  himself  is 
beneath  Him  who  made  all  things  well. 

I  thought  that  then  a  romantic  place  fit  for  the  meeting  of 
■  native  lovers,  in  which  to  say  soft  words,  and  I  felt  assured  that 
it  was  so  thought  by  them  when  once  I  was  called  upon  to  unite 
in  wedlock  there  a  happy  i3air,  whose  ambition  it  was  to  con- 
form to  the  white  man's  mode  in  that  solemn  rite,  and,  as  the 
dusky  bride  explained,  that  it  might  last  forever. 

As  might  have  been  anticipated,  neither  history  nor  tradition 
pretends  to  go  back  to  the  origin  of  any  of  the  native  ti'ibes 
who  occupied  this  land  when  first  explored  by  civilized  man. 
At  that  time,  the  country  where  we  live  was  principally  occu- 
pied l)y  the  Illinois  Indians,  who  where  an  important  people, 
who  ranged  from  the  Wabash  to  the  Mississii^pi,  and  from  the 
Ohio  even  to  Lake  Superior,  although  there  were  a  great  many 
other  tribes  occupying  the  same  territory.  Their  chief  location 
was  in  Northern  Illinois.  Here  was  their  home,  and  their 
great  metropolis  was  w'here  Utica  now  stands,  in  LaSalle 
county.  There  then  stood  the  largest  city  ever  built  by  north- 
ern natives.     It  was  a  delightful  place,  in  the  bosom  of  a  beau- 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  POTTAWATOMIES.        7 

tiful  valley,  and  the  city  occupied  all  the  intervening  space 
between  the  river  and  the  bluflF,  nearly  a  mile  in  extent.  Their 
great  cemeteries  there  testify  to  the  populousncss  of  the  place, 
even  were  the  testimony  of  the  lirst  discoverers  wanting.  If 
we  do  not  know  of  the  beginning  of  any  native  nation,  we  are 
credibly  told  of  the  extinction  of  this  great  people,  and  that, 
too,  within  a  century  after  they  were  found  so  populous  and  so 
prosperous  by  the  enterprising  explorers. ' 

Soon  after  their  discovery  by  LaSalle,  the  great  Iroquois 
confederation,  wliose  battle  fields  were  strewn  with  their  vic- 
tims almost  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to  the  Wabash,  and  from 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  even  north  of  them,  to  the  Alleghaiiies 
and  the  Ohio,  finally  extended  their  enterprises  to  the  Illinois. 
With  a  great  slaughter  they  defeated  this  hitherto  invincible 
people,  laid  waste  their  great  city,  and  scattered  them  in 
l^rokeu  bauds  over  their  wide  domain.  From  this  terrible 
l)low  they  never  recovered.  For  a  century  later  they  struggled 
with  waning  fortunes  against  northern  encroachments,  till 
finally  they  were  exterminated  by  the  Pottawatomies  and  the 
Ottawas,  at  Starved  Rock,  the  Fort  St.  Louis  of  LaSalle,  which 
overlooks  the  site  of  their  great  city  and  the  scene  of  their  first 
great  defeat  and  slaughter  by  the  conquering  Iroquois,  as  1  shall 
presently  relate.  There  still  stands  this  high  isolated  rock  as 
it  has  stood  for  thousands  of  years  gone  by,  the  swift  current  of 
the  river  bathing  its  feet  on  one  side,  its  summit  overlooking 
the  I)road  valley  and  the  many  wood-clad  islands  for  many 
miles  above  and  below  it,  fit  monument  to  the  great  departed 
who  had,  during  many  long  years  of  peace  and  security,  looked 
upon  its  impregnable  heights  as  a  secure  refuge  in  case  of  dis- 
aster. Alas!  if  it  was  secure  against  the  approach  of  hum:;n 
hands,  gaunt  famine  could  scale  its  ascents  and  do  its  .leadly 
work.  There  is,  and  ever  will  be,  a  charm  about  the  place- 
both  from  its  own  romantic  surroundings  and  the  melancholy 
story  of  the  bloody  scenes  it  has  looker!  down  upon.  While 
the  visitor  stands  upon  its  native  battlements,  silently  ponder- 
ing what  has  been  told  him,  insensibly  his  imagination  carries 
him  back  to  ages  long  ago,  and  he  thinks  lie  hears  the  wail  of 
woe,  oft  and  oftentimes  repeated,  and  then  again  tlie  song  of 
revelry  and  joy  sung  by  those  departed  long  before  the  wliite 


/ 


8  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

mau  saw  it.     The  ancestors  of  my  ancient  friends  were  respon- 
sible for  the  last  sad  catastroi^he. 

The  Pottawatomies  were  a  tribe  of  the  great  Algonquin  con- 
federation, whose  power  was  so  severely  felt  by  the  British 
forces  when  at  war  with  France,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, though  we  do  not  know  the  story  of  their  individual 
prowess  in  that  sanguinary  warfare. 

When  Fathers  Allones  and  Doblon  tirst  visited  Green  Bay, 
and  there  established  a  mission,  just  two  hundred  years  ago, 
they  found  the  Pottawatomies  established  on  those  verdant 
shores,  and  this  is  the  first  mention  I  can  find  of  them  in  his- 
tory. That  was  then  their  settled  home,  though  they  roamed 
far  away,  for  they  were  in  the  habit  of  extending  their  visits  to 
the  shores  of  Lake  Superior.  In  1671,  they  are  mentioned  as 
met  with  at  LaPoint,  on  that  Lake,  Ijy  the  missionary  fathers, 
not  as  residents,  but  as  visitors.  At  that  time  they  were  not 
known  south  of  the  lakes,  for  when  Joliet  and  Marquette 
returned  from  their  discovery  of  the  Mississippi,  by  way  of  the 
Illinois  river,  in  1674,  tliey  met  none  of  the  Pottawatomies 
here. 

In  1675,  Marquette,  no  doubt  by  invitation  of  the  Illinois 
Indians,  whom  he  had  met  the  year  before  on  his  return  with 
LaSalle  from  the  ^lississippi,  came  from  Green  Bay  to  establish 
a  Mission  here.  In  tliis  journey  he  was  attended  ])j  a  party  of 
Illinois  Indians,  and  also  by  a  band  of  the  Pottawatomies.  So 
far  as  we  know,  these  were  the  first  of  the  tribe  who  ever  saw 
the  country  south  of  Lake  Michigan.  They  coasted  the  west 
side  of  the  lake  in  oi)en  boats  or  canoes,  in  the  latter  jiart  of 
the  season,  when  the  lake  is  boisterous  and  forbidding.  It  was 
a  perilous  and  fatiguing  voyage  of  four  months'  duration,  and 
sorely  tried  (he  endurance  of  the  zealous  missionary.  They  at 
last  leached  Chicago,  just  as  winter  was  closing  in,  and  pro- 
ceeded up  the  South  Branch  of  the  river  to  where  Bridgeport 
now  .stands,  and  there  built  a  hut,  in  which  the  missionary 
wintered.  After  the  lonely  and  tedious  winter  was  passed,  he 
proceeded  down  the  Illinois  rivei'  to  the  great  city  of  the 
Illinois,  below  Starved  Rock,  and  there  established  the  first 
Mission  ever  founded  in  the  Illinois  country,  and  named  it 
'\  Kaskaskia. 


AND  A   SKETCH   OF  TIIIO   POTTAW  ATOM  IKS.        !• 

How  soon  after  this  the  Pottawatomies  Id't   tlicii-  old   limiif 
ou   Green   Bay,    and    sought    more   hospitable    regions    fiu-thcr 
south,  we  are  not  informed;  nor  can  we  tell  wlietlicr  the  emi- 
gration was  gradual,  or  if  thej'  broke  up  altogthcr,  but  as  we 
find  them  in  their  southern  iiomes  in  different  ijands,  the  prob- 
abilities are  that  they  left  in  parties.     A  portion  settled  on  tlie 
Saginaw  Bay,  in  Michigan,  who  were  subsequently   Iniown  as 
the  Pottawatomics  of  Saginaw,  or  of  Huron.     Others  deseended 
as  far  as  Detroit,  and  settled  in   that  neighljorhood.     Others 
found   their  way  to   the  St.  Jo,seph  River,  on  the  east  side  of 
Lake  Michigan;  and  others,  it  may  be  presumed,  came  directly 
to  Northern  Illinois,  though  it  is  possiljle  they  si^read  from 
Michigan  into  Illinois.     The  precise  date  of  these  several  mi- 
grations we  cannot  give,  but  Ci'agon  and  Bouqu(!t  found  them, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  occupying  the  country  about 
Detroit  and  Fort  St.  JosejDh ;  and  we  find  no  account  of  them 
within  the  last  hundred  years  and  more  at  Oreen  Bay.     From 
these  explorers  we  get  the  first  intimation  of  their  numbers,  and 
yet  this  is  of  the  most  unsatisfactory  kind.  They  set  them  down 
at  three  hundred  and  fifty;   and  Dodge,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later,  places  them  at  four  hundred  and  fifty,  while  Hutchins 
places  them  at  a  still  lower  number  than  the  first.     Upon  these 
numbers  we  can  place  but  little  reliance;  at  I)est,  it  could  have 
been  but  imperfect   estimates,  including  no  doubt  only  those 
bands  whom  they  met  at  Fort  St.  Josei)h  and  Detroit,  without 
taking  into  account  those  at  Saginaw  or  in  Illinois.     We  may 
safely  assume,  ajso,  that  these  figures  are  designed  oidy  co  ex- 
press the  number  of  their  warriors,  for  Sir  "William  Johnson, 
who   assembled   the   Algonquin   confederation   at    Niagara,   in 
1763,  informs  us,  that  of  the  nineteen  hundred  and  thirty  war- 
riors there  assem1)led,  four  hundred  and  fifty  were  Potiawato- 
raies,  or,  according  to  the  old  orthography,  PouteoUiiiius.     With 
them   and   their  associate   warriors,   Genei-al    Bradstreet   there 
concluded  a  treaty,  which  pacitie<l  all  the  Indian  tribes  bor- 
dering the  upper  lakes,  who  had   hitherto  l)een  such  inveterate 
enemies  to  the  British  Government  and  tlie  English  innnigrant. 
A  reasonably  conciliatory  course  with  them  since,  and  a  mod- 
erate share  of  good  faith  towards  them,  have  enabled  tlie  ("an- 
adas  to  live  with  those  who  resided  on  the  north  shores,  in 
amitv  in  times  of  peace,  and  depend  upon  them  as  alli.s  in 


10  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

time  of  war.  The  uumbei-  of  warriors  representing  the  Potta- 
watomies  at  the  Algonquin  convocation  at  Niagara,  shows  that 
the  whole  tribe  must  have  been  largely  in  excess  of  the  num- 
l^ers  given  by  Bouquet  and  others,  and  their  report  so  nearly 
approximates  to  the  number  of  warriors  at  Niagara,  as  to  con- 
vince us  at  once  that  they  spoke  only  of  their  able-bodied  men. 
Nor  is  it  very  proljable  that  all  the  warriors  which  the  several 
l)ands  of  that  tribe  could  furnish,  made  the  long  journey  to 
Niagara  to  attend  the  council.  The  fact  that  the  Pottawato- 
mies  furnished  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  representatives  in  that 
council  of  the  whole  Algonquin  confederation,  should  convince 
us  of  the  commanding  importance  of  this  tribe  in  that  jjowerful 
association  of  the  Indians,  and  so  were  they  the  last,  south  of 
the  lakes,  as  we  shall  see,  to  yield  up  their  i)lace  to  the  irre- 
sistible advance  of  civilization. 

The  fraternal  relations  existing  between  the  Pottawatomies 
and  the  Ottawas,  were  of  the  most  harmonious  character.  They 
lived  together  almost  as  one  people,  and  were  joint  owners  of 
their  hunting  grounds.  Their  relations  were  quite  as  intimate 
and  friendly  as  among  different  bands  of  the  same  tribe.  Nor 
were  the  Chippewas  scarcely  more  strangers  to  the  Pottawato- 
mies and  the  Ottawas  than  the  latter  were  to  each  other.  They 
too  claimed  an  interest  in  the  lands  occupied,  to  a  certain 
extent  by  all  jointly,  so  that  all  three  tribes  joined  in  the  first 
treaty  for  the  sale  of  their  lands  ever  made  to  the  United 
States. 

Chicago  was  ever  an  important  point  in  the  estimation  of 
the  Pottawatomies  and  their  associates,  and  here  Was  the  coun- 
cil held  which  resulted  in  that  first  treaty  in  1821,  when  the 
three  tribes  named  ceded  to  the  United  States  live  millions  of 
acres  in  Michigan. 

Since  their  emigration  from  the  north,  a  sort  of  distinction 
had  grown  up  among  the  different  bands  of  the  Pottawatomies, 
arising  from  their  several  locations,  which  seem  to  have 
stamped  upon  their  tenants  distinct  characteristics.  Those 
occupying  the  forest  lands  of  Michigan  and  Indiana  were 
called  by  themselves  and  by  the  traders  the  Indians  of  the 
^  Woods,  while  those  who  roamed  these  great  grassy  plains  were 
called  the  Prairie  Indians. 

The  former  were  much  moi-e  susceptible  to  the  influence  of 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  POTTAWATOMIES.      11 

civilization  than  the  latter.  They  devoted  themselves,  in  a 
very  appreciable  degree,  to  agricnlture,  and  so  supplemented 
the  fruits  of  the  chase  very  largely  in  their  support.  They 
welcomed  the  missionary  among  them  with  a  warm  cordiality. 
They  listened  to  his  teachings,  and  meekly  suhuiitted  to  his 
admonitions.  They  learned  by  heart  the  story  of  our  crucitieil 
Redeemer,  and  with  tremliling  voices  recounted  to  each  other 
the  sufferings  of  the  cross.  They  bent  the  knee  and  bowed 
the  head  reverently  in  prayer,  and  raised  their  melodious  voices 
in  sacred  songs  taught  them  by  the  holy  fothers.  They  received 
the  sprinklings  with  holy  waters,  and  partook  of  the  conse- 
crated elements,  believing  devoutly  in  their  saving  grace. 
They  went  to  the  confessional  with  downcast  looks,  and  with 
deep  contrition  told  the  story  of  their  sins,  and  with  a  radiant 
joy  received  the  absolution,  which  in  their  estimation  blotted 
them  out  forever.  Here  indeed  was  a  bright  field  of  promise 
to  those  devoted  missionaries,  who  deeply  felt  that  to  save  one 
heathen  soul  from  the  awful  doom,  which  they  believed 
awaited  all  those  who  died  without  the  bosom  of  the  church, 
was  a  rich  reward  for  a  whole  life  of  pinching  privation  and 
of  severe  suffering :  and  their  great  ambition  was  to  gather  as 
many  redeemed  souls  as  possible  to  their  account,  each  of 
wdiich  should  appear  as  a  bright  jewel  in  the  crown  which 
awaited  them  in  that  future  state,  to  which  we  are  all  so  mpidly 
hastening. 

It  was  very  different,  however,  with  the  Prtiirie  Indians. 
They  despised  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  as  too  mean  even  for 
their  women  and  children,  and  deemed  the  captures  of  the 
chase  as  t'he  only  fit  food  for  a  valorous  people.  The  corn  which 
grew  like  grass  from  the  earth  which  they  trod  beneatii  their 
feet,  was  not  proper  meat  to  feed  their  greatness.  Nor  did  they 
open  their  ears  to  the  lessons  of  love  and  religion  tendered  them 
by  those  who  came  among  them  and  sought  to  do  them  good. 
If  they  tolerated  their  presence  tliey  did  not  receive  them  with 
the  cordiality  evinced  by  their  more  eastern  brethren.  If  tiiey 
listened  to  their  sermons  in  respectful  silence  they  did  not 
receive  the  truths  they  taught  with  eager  gladness.  Kvi'n  if 
they  believed  for  the  moment  what  they  were  told,  it  made  uo 
permanent  impression  on  their  thoughts  and  action.s.  If  they 
understood  something  of  the  principles  of  thr  Cliristuui  relig- 


/ 


12  THE  LA.ST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

iou  whicii  were  told  them,  they  listened  to  it  as  a  sort  of 
theory  which  might  be  well  adapted  to  the  white  man's  con- 
ditiou.  but  was  not  fitted  for  them,  cor  they  for  it.  They 
enjoyed  the  wild  roving  life  of  the  prairie,  and  in  common 
with  almost  all  other  native  Americans,  w^ere  vain  of  their 
prowess  and  manhood,  both  in  war  and  in  the  chase.  They 
did  not  settle  down  for  a  great  length  of  time  in  a  given  place, 
but  roamed  across  the  broad  prairies,  from  one  grove  or  belt  of 
timljer  to  another,  either  in  single  families  or  in  small  bands, 
packing  their  few  effects,  their  children  and  infimi  on  their 
little  Indian  ponies.  They  always  traveled  in  Indian  file  upon 
well  beaten  trails,  connecting,  by  the  most  direct  routes,  promi- 
nent points  and  trading  posts.  These  native  highways  served 
as  guides  to  our  early  settlers,  who  followed  them  with  as  much 
confidence  as  we  now  do  the  roads  laid  out  and  worked  by 
civilized  man. 

Northern  Illinois  w^as  more  particularly  the  possession  of  the 
Pottawatomies,  but,  as  before  stated,  I  have  sought  in  vain  for 
some  satisfactory  data  ,to  fix  the  time  wdien  they  first  settled 
here.  They  undoubtedly  came  in  by  degrees,  and  by  degrees 
established  themselves,  encroaching  at  first  upon  the  Illinois 
tribe,  advancing  more  and  more,  sometimes  by  good-natured 
tolerance,  and  sometimes  by  actual  violence.  I  have  the  means 
of  approximating  the  time  wiien  they  came  into  exclusive 
jjossession  here.  That  occurred  upon  the  total  extinction  of 
the  Illinois,  which  must  have  been  sometime  between  1766  and 
1770.  Meachelle.  the  oldest  Pottawatomie  chief  when  I 
became  acquainted  wath  them,  thirty-seven  years  ago,  associated 
his  earliest  recollection  with  their  occupancy  of  the  country. 
His  recollection  extended  back  to  that  great  event  in  Indian 
history,  the  siege  of  Starved  Rock,  and  the  final  extinction  of 
the  Illinois  tribe  of  Indians,  which  left  his  people  the  sole  pos- 
sessors of  the  land.  He  was  present  at  the  siege  and  the  final 
catastrophe,  and,  although  a  boy  at  the  time,  the  terrible  event 
made  such  an  impression  on  his  young  mind,  that  it  ever  re- 
mained fresh  and  vivid.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  William  Hick- 
ling  for  assisting  my  memory  on  a  point  so  important. 

The  death  of  Pontiac,  the  great  Ottawa  chief,  occurred  in 
1766.  He  was  the  idol  of  his  own  people,  and  was  beloved 
and  obeyed  scarcely  less  by  the  Pottawatomies.     They  believed 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  POTTAWATOMIES.      i;; 

tliat  the  Illinois  Indians  were  at  least  accessory  to  his  murder, 
and  so  held  them  responsible,  and  conseqnently  tiie  Ottawas 
and  Pottavvatomies  united  all  their  forces  in  an  attack  iipnn 
those  whose  deadly  enemies  they  had  now  become.  I  am  not 
satisfied  that  their  previous  relations  had  been  those  of  cordial 
friendship,  but  if  the  peace  had  not  been  broken  by  open  war 
there  was  that  l^ad  blood  existing  between  them  which  must 
have  arisen  between  those  who  were  making  and  tliosc  who 
were  suffering  encroachments. 

The  Illinois  Indians  never  fully  recovered  from  tliu  great 
calamity,  which  they  had  suffered  a  century  before  at  the  hands 
6f  the  Iroquois.  By  that  their  spirit  and  their  courage  seemed 
broken,  and  they  submitted  to  encroachments  from  tlie  north, 
by  their  more  euterprising  neighbors,  with  an  ill  grace,  no 
doubt,  but  without  jirotecting  their  rights  by  force  of  arms,  iis 
they  would  have  done  in  former  times,  and  sought  to  revenge 
themselves  upon  those  upon  whom  they  looked  as  tlieir  actual 
enemies  in  an  underhand  and  treacherous  way. 

In  the  war  thus  waged  by  the  allies  against  the  Illinois,  tlie 
latter  suffered  disaster  after  disaster  till  the  sole  remnants  of 
that  once  proud  nation,  whose  name  had  been  mentioned  with 
respect  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Wabash,  now  found  sufficient  space  upon 
the  half  acre  of  ground  which  crowns  the  summit  of  Starved 
Rock.  As  its  sides  are  perpendicular,  except  on  the  south 
where  it  may  be  ascended  with  difficulty  by  a  sort  of  natural 
stairway,  where  some  of  the  steps  are  a  yard  high  and  but  a 
few  inches  wide,  and  not  more  than  two  can  ascend  abreast, 
ten  men  could  repel  ten  thousand  with  the  means  of  warfare 
then  at  their  command.  The  allies  made  no  attempt  to  take 
the  fort  by  storm,  but  closely  besieged  it  on  every  side.  On 
the  north  or  river  side,  the  upjx'r  rock  overiiaugs  the  water 
somewhat,  and  tradition  tells  us  how  the  confederates  placed 
themselves  in  canoes  under  tlio  slielving  rock  and  cut  the 
thongs  of  the  besieged  when  they  lowered  their  vessels  to 
obtain  water  from  the  river,  and  so  reduced  them  by  thirst,  but 
Meachelle,  so  far  as  I  know,  never  mentioned  this  as  one  of  the 
means  resorted  to  by  the  confederates  to  reduce  their  enemies, 
nor  from  an  examination  of  the  ground  do  I  think  this  proba- 
ble,  but  tliey  depended  upon  a  lack  of  provisions,  wliidi  we 


14  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

can  readily  appreciate  must  soon  occur  to  a  savage  people,  who 
rarely  anticipate  the  future  in  storing  up  supplies.  No  im- 
provident people  could  have  subsisted  long  in  such  a  i)lace. 
How  long  they  did  hold  out  Meachelle  did  not,  and  jirobably 
could  not,  tell  us;  but  at  last  the  time  came  when  the  unfortu- 
nate remnant  could  hold  out  no  longer.  They  awaited  but  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  attempt  their  escape.  This  was  at 
last  afforded  by  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  when,  led  by  their . 
few  remaining  w^arriors,  all  stole  in  profound  silence  down  the 
steep  and  narrow  declivity  to  be  met  by  a  solid  wall  of  their 
enemies  surrounding  the  point,  where  alone  a  sortie  could  be 
made,  and  which  had  been  confidently  expected.  The  horrid 
scene  that  ensued  can  be  better  imagined  than  described.  No 
quarter  was  asked  or  given.  For  a  time  tlie  bowlings  of  the 
tempest  were  drowned  by  the  yells  of  the  combatants  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  victims. 

Desperation  lends  strength  to  even  enfeebled  arms,  but  no 
efforts  of  valor  could  resist  the  overwhelming  numbers,  actu- 
ated by  the  direst  hate.  The  braves  fell  one  by  one,  fight- 
ing like  very  fiends,  and  terribly  did  they  revenge  themselves 
upon  their  enemies.  The  few  women  and  children,  whom  fam- 
ine had  left  but  enfeebled  skeletons,  fell  easy  victims  to  the 
war-clubs  of  the  terrible  savages,  who  deemed  it  as  much  a 
duty,  and  almost  as  great  a  glory,  to  slaughter  the  emaciated 
women  and  the  helpless  children  as  to  strike  down  the  men 
who  were  able  to  make  resistance  with  arms  in  their  hands. 
They  were  bent  upon  the  utter  extermination  of  their  hated 
enemies,  and  most  successfully  did  they  bend  their  savage 
energies  to  the  bloody  task. 

Soon  the  victims  were  stretched  upon  the  sloping  ground 
south  and  west  of  the  impregnable  rock,  their  bodies  lying 
stark  ujoon  the  sand  which  had  been  thrown  up  by  the  j^rairie 
winds.  The  wails  of  the  feeble  and  the  strong  had  ceased  to 
fret  the  night  winds,  whose  mournful  sighs  through  the  neigh- 
boring pines  sounded  like  a  requiem.  Here  was  enacted  the 
fitting  finale  to  that  work  of  death  which  had  been  commenced, 
scarcely  a  mile  away,  a  century  before  by  the  still  more  savage 
and  terrible  Iroquois. 

Still,  all  were  not  destroyed.  Eleven  of  the  most  athletic 
warriors,  in   the  darkness  and   confusion   of  the   fight,   broke 


AND  A  SKETCH   OF  THE   POTTAWATOMIES.      ir, 

through  the  l)esieging  lines.  They  had  marked  w«ll  from 
their  high  perch  on  the  isolated  rock,  the  little  nook  below, 
where  their  enemies  had  moored  at  least  a  ])art  of  their  canoes, 
and  to  these  they  rushed  with  headlong  speed,  imnoticed  l»y 
their  foes.  Into  these  they  threw  themselves,  and  hurrieil 
down  the  rapids  below.  They  had  been  trained  to  the  use  of 
the  paddle  and  the  canoe,  and  knew  well  every  intricacy  of 
the  channel,  so  that  they  could  safely  tliread  it,  even  in  the 
dark  and  boisterous  night.  They  knew  their  deadly  enemies 
would  soon  be  in  their  wake,  uud  that  there  was  no  safe  refuse 
for  them  short  of  St.  Louis.  They  had  no  provisions  to  sustain 
their  waning  strength,  and  yet  it  was  certain  death  to  stop  by 
the  way.  Their  only  hope  was  in  pressing  forward  liy  night 
and  by  day,  without  a  moment's  pause,  scarcely  looking  back, 
yet  ever  fearing  that  their  pursuers  would  make  their  appear- 
ance around  the  point  they  had  last  left  behind.  It  was  truly 
a  race  for  life.  If  they  could  reach  St.  Louis,  they  were  safe ; 
if  overtaken,  there  was  no  hope.  We  must  leave  to  the  imagi- 
nation the  details  of  a  race  where  the  stake  was  so  momentous 
to  the  contestants.  As  life  is  sweeter  even  than  revenge,  we 
may  safely  assume  that  the  pursued  were  impelled  to  even 
greater  exertions  than  the  pursuers.  Those  who  ran  for  life 
won  the  race.  They  reached  St.  Louis  before  their  enemies 
came  in  sight,  and  told  their  appalling  tale  to  the  commandant 
of  the  fort,  from  whom  they  received  assurances  of  jirotection. 
and  were  generously  supplied  with  food,  which  their  famished 
condition  so  much  required.  This  had  barely  been  done  when 
their  enemies  arrived,  and  fiercely  demanded  their  victim!>. 
that  no  drop  of  blood  of  their  hated  enemies  might  longer 
circulate  in  human  veins.  This  was  refused,  when  they  retired 
with  impotent  threats  of  future  vengeance,  which  they  never 
had  the  means  of  executing. 

After  their  enemies  had  gone,  the  Illinois,  wlio  never  after 
even  claimed  that  name,  thanked  their  entertainers,  and.  full 
of  sorrow  Avhich  no  words  can  express,  slowly  paddled  their 
way  across  the  river,  to  seek  new  friends  among  tiie  tribc.< 
who  then  occupied  the  southern  part  of  this  State,  and  who 
would  listen  with  sympathy  to  the  sad  tale  they  liad  to  relate. 
They  alone  remained  the  broken  remnant  and  last  representa- 
tives of  their  once  great  nation.     Tiieir  name,  even,  now  must 


16  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

be  blotted  out  from  among  the  names  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes.  Hencefortli  tliey  must  cease  to  be  of  the  present,  and 
could  only  be  .remembered  as  a  part  of  the  joast.  This  is  the 
last  we  know  of  the  last  (5f  the  Illinois.  They  were  once  a 
great  and  a  prosperous  people,  as  advanced  and  as  humane  as 
any  of  the  aborigines  around  them ;  we  do  not  know  that  a 
drop  of  their  blood  now  animates  a  human  Ijeing,  but  their 
name  is  perpetuated  in  this  great  State,  of  whose  record  of  the 
past  all  of  us  feel  so  proud,  and  of  whose  future  the  hopes  of 
us  all  are  so  sanguine. 

Till  the  morning  light  revealed  that  the  canoes  were  gone 
the  confederates  believed  that  their  sanguinary  work  had  been 
so  thoroughly  done  that  not  a  living  soul  remained.  So  soon 
as  the  escape  was  discovered,  the  pursuit  was  conmienced,  but 
as  we  have  seen,  without  success.  The  jjursuers  i-eturned  dis- 
appointed and  dejected  that  their  enemies'  scalps  were  not 
hanging  from  their  Ijelts.  But  surely  ):)lood  enough  had  been 
spilled — vengeance  should  have  been  more  than  satisfied. 

I  have  failed,  no  doubt,  to  properly  render  Meachelle's  ac- 
count of  this  sad  drama,  for  I  have  been  obliged  to  use  my  own 
language,  without  the  inspiration  awakened  in  him  by  the 
memor}'-  of  the  scene  which  served  as  his  first  baptism  in  blood. 
Who  can  wonder  that  it  made  a  lasting  impression  on  his 
youthful  mindv  Still,  he  was  not  fond  of  relating  ic,  nor  would 
he  speak  of  it  except  to  those  who  had  acquired  his  confidence 
and  intimacy.  It  is  proljably  the  only  account  to  be  had 
related  by  an  eye-witness,  and  we  may  presume  that  it  is  the 
most  authentic,  and  may  well  deserve  preservation,  and  so  may 
be  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  archives  of  this  Society,  whose 
proper  mission  it  is  to  gather  up  and  bring  to  light  whatever 
still  remains  to  be  gatliered  from  the  memories  of  those  who 
are  fast  fading  away,  of  scenes  whose  theatre  was  the  land  we 
live  in,  and  of  peoples  who  once  occupied  this  territory.  The 
few  dim  lights  still  remaining  will  soon  be  put  out.  and  dark- 
ness and  oblivion  must  shroud  forever  all  that  is  then  unre- 
corded. 

This  great  event  in  Indian  history  secured  to  the  Pottawato- 
mies  all  the  territory  then  Ijelonging  to  the  Illinois,  and  the 
exclusive  right  to  which  was  undisjjuted  by  other  tribes.  It 
extended  their  possessions  to  the  lands  of  the  Peorias  on  Peoria 


AND  A  SKETCH   OK  Tlli:    I'ol'TA  \VA  TOMIES.      IT 

lake.  Tlioy  occupied  to  the  Wahasli  a.s  far  soutli  as  Daiivilh 
and  even  beyond.  On  the  other  side  tlicy  occupied  to  the 
Rock  river,  though  tlieir  right  to  a  .strip  of  hind  on  tlie  east 
.side  of  that  river  was  disputed  by  the  Sac  and  P'ox  Indians  wiio 
ranged  the  prairies  west  of  there  and  Ijeyond  tlie  .^Iissi.ssij)pi. 
They  extended  north  into  Wisconsin  as  far  as  ^Milwaukee, 
though  their  northern  boundary  was  never  well  defmeil,  liut 
their  friendly  relations  with  the  Chippewas  prevented  tiiis 
from  ever  becoming  a  source  of  disagreement  between  them. 
After  the  extermination  of  the  Illinois,  their  general  condition 
w^as  that  of  peace,  and  I  have  learned  of  few  incidents  since 
Avorthy  of  record.  As  ))efore  intimated,  they  had  a  perpetual 
dilReulty  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  about  the  lands  bonh-r- 
ing  on  the  east  side  of  Rock  river,  and  when  the  braves  of  the 
contestants  met  on  the  disputed  territory  they  Anight  it  out, 
l)ut  I  have  not  learned  that  the  war  \vas  often  carried  beyon<l 
the  contested  grounds,  though  the  eastern  l)oundary  of  these 
was  quite  undefined. 

As  a  tribe,  the  Pcttawatomies  may  not  have  taken  an  active 
part  against  the  I'nited  States  in  the  war  of  1812,  yet  it  is 
certain  that  many  of  their  young  chiefs  and  liraves  did  so.  <  >n 
this  subject  they  were  extremely  reticent.  At  one  time,  when 
riding  over  the  prairie  south  of  Blue  Islaml,  in  lS3o,  with  Billy 
Caldwell,  when  the  old  chief  as  usual  w'as  answering  my  ijues- 
tions  about  the  past  and  what  portion  of  the  country  he  had 
visited,  as  it  seemed  inadvertently,  he  commenced  giving  an 
account  of  an  expedition  of  the  British  from  Canada  across  ti> 
Ohio,  of  which  he  and  a  numl)er  of  his  warriors  formed  a  part, 
but  he  had  hardly  got  them  landed  on  our  shores,  when  in- 
seemed  to  remember  that  I  was  an  American  and  that  it  was 
better  not  to  enlighten  me  further  on  the  subject,  and  he  broki- 
oli"  suddenly,  nor  could  I  l>y  any  means  jjrevail  upon  him  to 
return  to  the  suliject. 

During  the  Black  Hawk  war.  .-is  it  was  called,  in  IH'^'i,  as  n 
people  they  remained  loyal  to  the  United  States,  but  it  wa.s 
with  great  difficulty  that  many  of  the  young  men  were  kept 
from  particij)ating  in  the  affray  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  But 
the  part  they  acted  in  that  affair  may  be  found  in  the  writt.-n 
history  of  the  times. 

Chicago  was   ever  a    iixvorite   resort   of  the    Pottawatomies. 

2 


18  THE  LAST  f)F  THE  ILLINOIS, 

Here  they  chose  to  hold  their  great  councils,  and  here  they, 
concluded  the  last  treaty  with  our  Government  as  they  had  tht- 
first,  as  I  have  already  stated,  twelve  years  before.  This  last 
treaty  was  made  in  1833,  and  I  was  a  daily  attendant  upon  the 
deliberations  of  the  council.  By  this  time  the  Ottawas  and 
the  Pottawatomies  had  become  so  blended  and  intermixed  that 
they  had  become  practically  one  i^eople,  and  were  generally 
designated  by  the  latter  name.  I  do  not  remem))er  the  number 
of  Indians  in  town  at  the  time  of  the  treaty,  but  the  assemblage 
was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  chiefs  who  participated  in  the 
deliberations.  There  were  certainly  several  thousand  natives 
here,  who  were  supplied  with  regular  rations  of  beef  and  flour 
by  the  Government,  and  it  was  manifest  that  they  were  quite 
willing  to  protract  the  conference  so  long  as  these  should  last. 

At  the  close  of  each  important  deliberation,  especially  if 
much  progress  seemed  to  have  been  made,  a  keg  of  twisted 
plug  tobacco  was  rolled  into  the  council  house,  the  staves  cut 
in  the  middle  with  an  ax,  and  the  chiefs  told  to  help  them- 
selves. This  was  accompanied  with  a  box  of  white  clay  pipes. 
They  helped  themselves  with  great  decorum,  and  even  some 
ceremony. 

By  this  last  treaty,  concluded  at  Chicago,  in  1833,  the  Indians 
disjjosed  of  all  their  remaining  lands  to  the  L^nited  States, 
except  some  specific  reservations  to  some  of  their  chiefs,  and 
asrreed  to  remove  to  a  limited  location  assigned  them  west  of 
the  Missouri  river.  When  the  treaty  was  finally  concluded 
and  the  presents  all  distributed,  and  no  more  rations  served  out, 
they  gradually  dispersed  till  only  those  who  resided  in  and 
aljout  Chicago  remained.  For  two  years  longer  this  people 
continued  among  us,  subsisting  as  they  had  done  before,  noth- 
ing worthy  of  note,  so  far  as  I  know,  occurring  in  the  mean- 
time. 

In  1835,  and  for  the  last  time,  the  whole  assembled  at 
Chicago,  to  receive  their  annuity  from  the  Government,  and 
to  make  their  final  start  for  their  new  home.  I  was  absent  at 
the  time  of  their  assemblage,  and  have  no  means  of  stating  at 
what  date  they  began  to  make  their  appearance  in  the  town, 
for  now  Chicago  had  really  begun  to  present  an  appearance 
which  would  well  justify  the  name.  Here  for  the  first  time, 
many  who  had  through  their  whole  lives  been  in  the  habit  of 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  POTTAWATOMIE?.      1'.' 

visiting  this  favorite  location,  wiien  tlic  rank  grass  grew  wai^t 
liigh  where  the  Trcmont  and  the  Sherman  houses  now  stan.i, 
must  have  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  marks  of  civiliza- 
tion vastly  more  extensive  than  any  they  hud  ever  seen  l)ef()rc 
or  been  able  to  comprehend.  It  assured  them,  and  they  com- 
prehended it,  that  they  were  already  strangers  in  their  native 
land.  That  a  mightier  race  had  come,  so  far  their  snijerior 
that  they  must  fade  away  before  ic.  It  is  em))hatically  true  of 
all  our  American  Indians,  that  they  cannot  exist,  multiply,  ami 
jjrosper  in  the  light  of  civilization.  Here  their  physical  vigoi- 
fails,  their  reproductive  powers  diminish,  their  spirit  and  their 
very  vitality  dwindle  out,  and  no  philanthrojjy,  no  kindness,  no 
fostering  care,  of  government,  of  societies,  or  of  individual.'?, 
can  save  them  from  an  inevitable  doom.  They  are  plainly  the 
sick  man  of  America;  with  careful  nursing  and  the  kindest 
care,  we  may  prolong  his  stay  among  us  for  a  few  years,  but  Ik- 
Is  sick  of  a  disease  which  can  never  be  cured  except  by  isolat- 
ing him  from  civilization,  and  remanding  him  to  nature's  wild- 
iless,  which  in  truth  has  more  charms  in  many  cases  for  even 
the  white  man,  than  the  refinements  and  the  restraints  of  the 
white  man's  mode  of  life.  Our  tastes  for  these  are  the  results 
of  artificial  training,  and  our  tendency  is  constantly  to  rcla))sc 
to  a  wilder  life  in  the  woods  and  in  the  mountains.  The 
bivouac  of  the  soldier  has  a  charm  to  which  he  often  recurs 
with  animated  pleasure.  The  camj)-tire  of  the  liunter  has  a 
fascination  which  he  who  lias  enjoyed  it  can  never  forget. 
And  in  our  earliest  childhood  we  showed  oui'  natural  tastes  and 
inclinations  by  listening  to  stories  of  these,  with  more  avidity 
than  any  other.  Mayne  Reid  built  his  hopes  on  this  juvenile 
taste,  which  he  knew  was  stronger  than  any  other,  wiicn  In- 
wrote  his  charming  stories  which  have  made  his  name  so  popu- 
lar, yes,  and  so  dear,  too,  to  the  rising  generation.  Account? 
of  huntings  and  fishings,  of  living  in  the  woods  and  in  the 
plains,  or  in  some  sweet  little  nook  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
down  which  the  babbling  brook  comes  from  the  melted  snows 
far  above,  and  where  nature  in  her  unbroken  beauty  ami  her 
sublimity  reigns  around  her  supreme  silence,  and  there  is  no 
mark  and  no  sound  of  civilization  near,— these  have  fascina- 
tions for  even  the  white  race  as  well,  which  are  entirely  want- 
ino'  in  the  most  glowing  accounts  of  cathedrals,  and  palaces'. 


20  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

and  pictures,  descriptions  of  which  fail  to  interest  those  whose 
tastes  have  not  been  cultivated  up  to  their  full  appreciation. 
Tf  a  love  of  nature  in  her  wildest  moods  and  scenes  be  a  reWc 
of  barbaric  taste,  which  civilization  has  failed  to  eradicate,  then 
to  that  extent,  at  least.  I  am  a  savage  still. 

This  tendency  in  the  white  race  to  revert  to  what  we  maj- 
tcrm  the  natural  tastes,  is  strongly  manifested,  whenever  we  see 
one  taken  in  infancy  and  I>rought  uji  among  savages.  Almost 
always  he  i.s  the  greatest  .savage  of  them  all,  notwithstanding 
the  hereditary  influence  through  many  generations  of  those  cul- 
tivated tastes  and  habits  which  distinguish  the  civilized  man 
from  the  savage.  This  observation  may  not  l)c  coniined  to  the 
case  cited,  although  that  is  perhaps  the  most  convincing  of 
this  tendency  to  revert  to  the  savage  state.  We  often  see  cases 
where  men  have  grown  to  maturity  in  the  midst  of  civilized 
society,  uniting  themselves  with  the  native  tribes,  and  enjoy- 
ing tliat  life  l)etter  than  the  former,  and  chosing  to  spend  their 
days  with  their  new  found  friends,  although  it  involves  a  sacri- 
iice  of  all  those  ties  which  so  strongly  bind  us  to  friends  anci 
kindred  and  early  associations.  In  such  cases  we  rarely  find 
them  practicing  those  arts  which  they  had  early  learned,  or 
those  habits  of  industry  which  is  the  aistinguishing  character- 
istic of  civilized  man.  It  is  undoubtedly  true,  in  these  latter 
eases,  that  he  who  liecomes  a  savage  after  ])u))ertj\  has  an 
exceptional  inclination  to  revert  to  the  wild  state ;  still  the 
number  is  .so  considerable  as  to  show  us  that  civilization  has 
not  been  so  long  continued  as  to  wholly  change  our  natures., 
and  that  it  is  almost,  if  not  entirely,  artificial. 

I  think  the  facts  will  warrant  the  conclusion  that  this  ten- 
dency to  reversion  is  nmch  stronger  in  the  male  than  the 
female.  In  the  few  instances  where  the  white  female  has  been 
reared  in  savage  life,  and  has  then  been  reclaimed,  she  lia.s 
more  readily  conformed  to  civilized  habits,  and  has  shown  less 
longing  for  the  wild  scenes  among  which  she  was  reared;  and 
when  she  has  been  introduced  to  savage  life  after  maturity,  she 
seems  always  happy  to  esca])e  it.  In  observing  this  fact,  how- 
ever, we  ought  not  to  forget  that  the  harder  lot  of  the  female 
among  savage  peoples  may  tend  to  make  her  more  willing  to 
escape  from  what  is  really  a  state  of  bondage  and  servitude, 
than  with  the  man,  who   is   in  every  sense  an   equal,  or,  fron\ 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  PoT'l'AWATOMIES.      ','1 

iiis  higher  intellectual  endowments,  may  most   likely  occupy  a 
superior  position. 

Reverse  the  state  of  things,  and  how  rarely  do  we  iiud  the 
savage  ever  civilized.  In  the  numerous  instances  where  tin 
•savage  infant  has  been  removed  fron\  the  influences  and  allure- 
ments of  his  ancestors,  and  reared  entirely  among  us,  and 
taught  all  that  civilization  and  Christianity  could  teach  him, 
but  very  few  have  been  wholly  weaned  from  thf  tastes  ami 
inclinations  which  they  have  inherited  from  their  savage  an- 
cestors. Some  notable  and  brilliant  exceptions  are  no  douljt 
to  be  met  with,  but  they  are  so  rare  as  to  inspire  rather  our 
■remark  and  admiration  than  a  well  grounded  hope  tliat  we  can 
ever  succeed  in  reclaiming  them  as  a  peojjle. 

The  native  American  is  in  some  respects  a  proud  and  a  sensi- 
tive being,  and  is  not  wanting  in  reflective  powers.  When 
brought  in  contact  with  civilization,  he  recognizes  his  inferi- 
ority, and  appreciates  his  inability  ever  to  overcome  it.  He 
feels  that  he  cannot  live  with  the  stranger,  except  as  an  infe- 
(rior,  and,  inspired  by  his  native  pride,  he  would  rather  cease 
to  be  than  to  do  this.  He  appreciates  his  inevitable  doom. 
He  ceases  to  hope,  and  them  comes  despair,  which  contributes 
more  than  all  else  to  hasten  the  result  which  he  foresees. 
While  all  have  seen  from  the  Ijeginning  that  the  aborigines 
melt  away  and  die  out  before  the  advance  of  civilization,  in 
spite  of  the  most  humane  eflbrts  to  produce  a  diflforcnt  result, 
we  may  not  have  appreciated  all  the  causes  which  have  con- 
tributed to  this  end.  Those  which  have  been  the  most  readily 
understood,  because  the  most  patent,  are  the  vices  and  disca.ses 
and  poisonous  drinks  wliich  the  white  race  has  introduced 
among  them  from  the  very  iirst.  If  these  were  tlie  only  causes 
we  might  deem  it  possible,  by  municipal  regulations,  to  remove 
them.  While  this  would  be  a  great  boon  which  civilization 
undoubtedly  owes  to  the  original  owners  of  the  soil  where  wc- 
are  so  rapidly  expanding  into  a  gieat  nation,  I  am  satisfied  it 
■would  not  secure  the  great  end  which  pliilanthropy  must  most 
ardently  desire.  Still  they  would  not  amalgamate  with  civili 
zation,  nor  become  civilized  as  a  separate  people.  They  can 
only  live  and  prosper  and  multiply  by  continuing  as  their  an- 
cestors have  lived,  in  a  wild  state,  roaming  over  large  area.> 
sparsely  populated,  depending  upon  what  they  can  secure  ot 


22  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

nature's  raising,  and  when  their  numbers  become  too  great  for- 
subsistence  u^Don  such  sujoijlies,  they  must  become  reduced  by 
wars,  disease,  or  famine. 

The  vievvs  I  have  suggested,  of  the  effect  upon  the  mind 
and  the  sensibilities  of  the  Indian,  which  is  produced  by  his 
observations  of  advancing  civilization  as  it  intrudes  upon  him, 
and  its  reflected  influence  upon  his  ])hysical  organization,  I 
think  well  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  the  observations  of 
ISlv.  Sproat  in  his  "  Scenes  and  Studies  of  Savage  Life."  He 
employed  a  large  number  of  natives  about  his  saw-mills  at 
Barclay  Sound,  on  Vancouver's  Island.  Here  the  natives  were 
settled  around  him  in  comfortable  dwellings  with  their  fam- 
ilies, and  worked  promiscuously  with  the  white  laborers.  The 
strictest  temperance  was  enforced  throughout  the  settlement, 
and  no  violence  was  permitted  toward  the  natives,  but  they 
were  treated  with  the  utmost  kindness  and  fairness.  They 
were  well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  carefully  taught.  Here  they 
were  surrounded  with  all  the  best  influences  of  civilization,  and 
as  few  of  the  vices  as  we  may  expect  to  find,  when  the  red  man 
is  brought  in  contact  with  the  white. 

For  a  time,  all  seemed  to  go  on  well,  and  tlie  experiment 
promised  a  success.  At  length,  however,  a  change  became 
observable,  especially  among  the  Indians  who  lived  nearest  the 
white  settlements.  A  few  of  the  sharpest  of  the  young  natives 
had  become  off"ensively  European,  as  he  calls  it,  but  the  mass 
of  the  Indians  had  ceased  to  visit  the  settlement  in  their  free, 
easy,  and  indejjendent  way,  jjut  lived  listlessly  in  their  vil- 
lages, brooding  seemingly  over  heavy  thoughts.  They  seemed 
to  have  acquired  a  distrust,  nay,  almost  a  disgust  for  them- 
selves. At  first  they  had  looked  upon  mills  and  machinery, 
upon  steamshijjs  and  upon  great  houses,  indeed  upon  all  the 
wonderful  works  of  the  new  comer,  with  curiosity  and  interest, 
but  now,  with  distrust,  with  disgust,  and  even  with  despair; 
the  effect  of  this  despair  was  now  manifest.  They  even  began 
to  abandon  their  old  tribal  habits,  practices,  and  ceremonies. 
Presently,  without  any  ajjparent  cause,  an  unusual  amount  of 
sickness  was  observed  among  them,  and  the  death-rate  was 
largely  increased,  and  so  continued  during  the  five  years  that 
our  author   remained   among  them.     Nobody   molested   them. 


AND  A  SKETCH   OF  TTTE  POTTAWATO.MIES.      2:! 

Notwithstanding  all  their  comforts  and  all  the  care  bestowed 
ui)on  them,  they  sunk  into  a  gradual  but  sure  decay. 

The  light  of  civilization  instead  of  warming  them  into  new 
life  seemed  to  bring  a  blight  upon  them,  they  felt  that  they 
were  an  inferior  race.  Tliey  lacked  the  energy,  and  therefore 
the  ability,  to  become  and  live  as  civilized  men,  and  tlioir 
jjroud  hearts  were  crushed  at  the  thoughts  of  living  with  tlie 
white  race  as  inferiors  and  therefore  a  degraded  race,  and  then 
necessarily  followed  disgust  and  despair,  and  then  came  disease 
and  death. 

Had  they  lacked  that  lofty  pride  and  that  love  of  indepen- 
dence which  are  so  marked  a  characteiistic  of  our  Indians,  they 
iliight  have  enjoyed  the  comforts  which  civilization  brought 
tliem,  without  mortification  at  the  consciousness  of  living  as 
inferiors  among  a  superior  race.  But  no  kindness,  no  assistance, 
no  proffered  recognition  of  equality,  could  hide  from  tlieir  view 
that  they  were  and  must  be  inferiors,  while  they  could  in 
contentment  l^rook  no  superiors  in  fact. 

In  several  cases  advanced  aboriginal  Indian  tribes,  have  by 
act  of  Congress  been  declared  citizens  and  endowed  with  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship.  Still  they  were  con- 
scious of  their  inability  to  properly  exercise  and  enjoy  tliose 
rights  and  privileges.  They  knew  they  could  n()t  exercise  tlie 
franchise  side  by  side  with  the  white  man,  with  the  same 
degree  of  intelligence  and  judgment,  and  so  they  scorned  to 
use  it.  Perhaps  it  would  have  ))een  better  for  them  could 
they  have  ignored  the  real  disthiction  which  existed  between 
them  and  the  white  race,  and  persuaded  themselves,  or  been 
persuaded  by  others,  that  they  were  the  equals  of  any.  They 
had  too  much  shrewdness  to  be  thus  i>linded,  and  so  they 
recognized  a  truth  which  another  disposition  would  liavc  con- 
cealed  from  them,  and  submitted  to  what  seemed  to  be  a  fate 
in  a  sort  of  reckless,  sullen  silence,  at  least  till  a  possible 
opportunity  should  occur  for  a  striking  blow,  though  it  might 
be  an  expiring  one,  for  what  they  believed  existence;  and  if 
not  for  existence  then  for  revenge-if  not  for  the  future  then 

for  the  past- 
Laying  aside  what  all  must  recognize  as  i)alpablc  evils  intro- 
duced among  them,  as  fraud,  whisky,  and  demoralizatu.n,  there 
is    upon  a  deeper  look    i)eneath  the  surface,  a  fatal   .lifficulty 


24  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

which  all  the  kindness  and  service  which  civilization,  philan- 
thropy, and  Chi-istiauity  can  render  them  cannot  oveicome. 

The  proud  and  liaughty  chieftian  clearly  sees  in  the  com- 
ing of  the  stranger,  and  in  his  proffered  kindness,  the  un- 
avoidable dcgredation  of  his  people  from  that  lofty  estate  of 
proud  independence  which  his  forefathers  maintained,  and 
that  at  last,  after  being  driven  from  their  envied  inheritance, 
and  finding  no  place  of  rest  but  in  the  grave  itself,  their  final 
extinction  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  a  sad  picture,  and 
yet  it  stands  out  before  us  in  the  light  of  the  past  as  if  painted 
on  the  wall  before  us  by  the  Divine  finger.  V/e  may  not  deny 
that  the  sacrifice  is  necessary  to  promote  the  greatest  good  to 
the  greatest  number,  but  surely  we  may  heave  a  sigh  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  victim  whose  immolation  is  necessary  to  carry  out 
even  a  Divine  plan.  And  so  may  we  ])ave  some  compassion  for 
him  if  in  his  death-throe.s  he  manifests  his  savage  and  untama- 
ble nature.  If  it  was  his  misfortune  to  be  born  a  savage,  with 
no  rights  which  the  white  man  is  bound  to  respect,  then  it  was 
his  misfc)rtune  also  to  be  born  with  a  nature  which  renders  him 
incapable  of  civilization,  a  lofty  desire  for  independence,  a 
profound  detestation  for  everything  like  servitude,  a  deep- 
seated  sentiment  of  revenge,  and,  above  all,  a  total  inability  to 
appreciate  how  it  is  that  he  has  no  rights  which  he  may  call 
his  own,  and  which  even  a  superior  race  should  regard. 

We  must  admit  that  even  our  boasted  civilization  has  its 
strange  phases,  and  sometimes  its  manifest  inconsistencies.  We 
repeat  the  maxim  that  might  makes  right  always  with  re- 
proach, and  yet  act  upon  it  whenever  the  public  weal  is  sup- 
posed to  require  it.  Perhaps  the  truest  and  the  best  justifica- 
tion which  we  can  plead  for  insisting  upon  taking  the  lands  of 
the  aborigines  whenever  we  wish  them,  using  no  more  force 
than  is  necessary  to  accomplish  what  we  deem  necessary — 
whether  the  owner  is  willing  to  sell  them  or  not — is  that  a  few 
useless  savages,  who  can  do  no  good  for  the  world  at  large,  and 
little  good  even  for  themselves,  must  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  march  of  civilization;  that  God  made  the  earth  and  all 
that  is  upon  it  for  His  own  honor  and  glory,  and  that  both 
they  and  we  are  but  tenants  at  His  will ;  and  that  it  is  His 
undoubted  right,  whenever  in  His  good  pleasure  He  sees  fit,  to 
eject  those  who  in  His  estimation  do  Him  no  honor,  and  replace 


AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE  I'OTTAWATo.MlES.      j:, 

them  by  those  who  may  contribute  more  to  His  glory,  and  tliat 
thus  He  is  working  out  His  great  scheme  conceived  from  the 
lieginuing  of  all  time.  I  say  if  we  can  but  thus  console  our- 
selves that  in  what,  to  the  superficial  observer  seems  to  be 
spoliations  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  we  are  Ijut  instruments 
in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  to  work  out  His  great  purposes 
and  to  execute  His  solemn  decrees,  then,  indeed,  we  may  feel 
that  we  have  washed  our  hands  in  innocency.  For  myself  I 
have  never  been  a  very  ardent  believer  in  what  is  sometimes 
called  special  missions,  and  merely  suggest  this  as  the  most 
plausible  justification  which  I  have  ever  been  able  to  contrive. 
Still,  I  do  believe  that  my  old  friends  did  not  see  it  exactly  in 
that  light  when  they  turned  their  backs  upon  Chicago,  the 
scene  of  so  many  of  their  grave  councils  and  of  their  happy 
gatherings — when  they  looked  for  the  last  time  upon  the  ever 
bright  waters  of  the  lake,  and  bent  their  slow  and  reluctant 
steps  to  a  land  of  which  they  knew  not,  and  in  which  tliey 
would  he  strangers ;  and  yet  there  were  old  men  among  thenv 
who  could  have  told  them  that  their  fathers  had  with  bloodier 
liands  expelled  another  nation  who  had  occupied  the  land 
before  them,  and  that  no  douI)t  the  title  had  been  thus  trans- 
ferred many  times,  tlie  conveyance  always  sealed  by  the  blood 
of  the  last  owner. 

At  this  last  gathering  of  the  tril)e  at  Chicago  the  total  nuiii- 
])er  of  souls  was  about  five  thousand.  ^Vhile  here  they  weic- 
well  fed  by  the  Government ;  and  when  they  went  they  wen- 
removed  by  the  Government  under  the  charge  of  the  late  Cajjt. 
J.  B.  F.  Russell.  By  him  they  were  transported  to  their  new 
home  on  a  reservation  assigned  them  by  tlie  Government  in 
Clay  county,  Missouri,  opi)osite  Fort  Leavenworth.  Almost 
from  the  beginning  a  feeling  of  hostility  was  manifeste;! 
toward  them  by  the  citizens  of  Missouri,  which  finally  resulted. 
at  the  end  of  two  yeais,  in  another  removal  t)y  the  Government, 
when  they  were  located  in  Iowa,  near  Council  Bluft's.  Hei-e, 
again,  their  home  was  of  short  duration,  and  they  were  rcmovcil 
a  third  time  by  the  Government  to  tlieir  present  location  in 
Ivan.sas,  where  they  have  remained  for  over  thirty  years.  Tlii.- 
reservatton,  however,  they  have  now  sold,  and  are  about  to 
remove  for  a  fourth  time  within  little  more  than  a  third  of  a 
century.     Their  new  location  is  in  the  Indian  country  .south 


26  THE  LA.ST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

and  west  of  Kansas.  How  long  it  will  )je  before  the  pressure 
of  advancing  civilization  will  again  jjush  them  on  in  search 
of  a  new  home,  we  cannot  certainlj"^  predict.  We  may  safelj' 
say,  however,  that  it  cannot  be  very  long.  We  may  scarcely 
hope  that  they  will  ever  find  a  quiet  resting-place  above  the 
earth. 

In  their  Kansas  home,  the  Indians  of  the  woods  have  con- 
tinued to  manifest  their  greater  adaiitability  to  conform  to  the 
habits  of  civilized  life.  They  have  there  subsisted  to  a  large 
extent  by  agriculture.  Some  progress  has  been  made  in  teach- 
ing them  in  schools,  and  the  influence  of  religion  still  exerts  its 
sway  over  them,  or  at  least  their  religious  teachers  still  com- 
mand their  attention  and  resjject.  Out  of  seventeen  hundred 
and  fifty  of  which  this  band  still  consisted,  according  to  the 
last  report  which  I  have  seen,  sixteen  hundred  are  rejjresented 
as  subsisting  by  agriculture. 

'The  prairie  Indians  yet  remain  as  wild  and  untamable  as 
'ever.  They  are  still  averse  to  the  labors  of  the  field,  and  enjoy 
the  life  of  indolence  or  else  the  excitement  of  the  chase,  by 
which  and  their  annuities  from  the  Government  they  eke  out 
a  scanty  subsistence.  The  finger  of  fate  seems  to  be  pointed 
alike  at  the  most  civilized  and  the  most  savage.  Final  extinc- 
tion is  the  end  of  the  way  down  which  all  are  swiftly  rushing, 
and  it  would  seem  almost  practicable  to  calculate  with  mathe- 
matical certainty,  the  day  when  they  will  live  only  in  memory 
and  in  history. 

They  left  Illinois  thirty-five  years  ago  with  five  thousand 
souls.  At  the  date  of  the  last  report  they  had  dwindled  down 
to  three  thousand  five  hundred,  and  at  this  moment  their  num- 
Ijers  can  scarcely  exceed  three  thousand.  From  this  each  one 
may  calculate  for  himself  when  the  last  day  shall  have  passed 
— when  there  will  be  no  living  representative  of  that  powerful 
people  who  but  a  century  ago  exterminated  a  nation  at  a  single 
blow  at  Starved  Rock.  The  last  of  the  Pottawatomies  will 
then  have  ceased  to  be. 

I  shall  close  this  paper  with  an  account  of  the  great  war 
dance  which  was  performed  by  all  the  braves  which  could  be 
mustered  among  the  five  thousand  Indians  here  assembled. 
The  number  who  joined  in  the  dance  was  probably  about  eight 


AND  A  SKETCH   OF  THE    POTTAWATOMIES.      -,'7 

hundred.  Although  I  cannot  give  the  precise  day,  it  must 
liave  occurred  about  the  last  of  August,  18:35.  It  was  tlie  last 
war  dance  ever  performed  by  the  natives  on  the  ground  M-hcre 
now  stands  this  great  city,  though  how  many  thousands  liail 
preceded  it  no  one  can  tell.  They  appreciated  that  it  was  tin- 
last  on  their  native  soil — that  it  was  a  sort  of  funeral  ceremony 
of  old  associations  and  memories,  and  nothing  was  omitted  to 
lend  to  it  all  the  grandeur  and  solemnity  possible.  Truly  I 
thought  it  an  impressive  scene  of  which  it  is  quite  impo.ssible 
to  give  an  adequate  idea  by  words  alone. 

They  assembled  at  the  council-house,  near  where  the  Lake 
House  now  stands,*  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  All  were 
entirely  naked,  except  a  strip  of  cloth  around  the  loins.  Their 
bodies  were  covered  all  over  with  a  great  variety  of  brilliant 
paints.  On  their  faces,  particularly,  they  seemed  to  have 
exhausted  their  art  of  hideous  decoration.  Foreheads,  cheeks,, 
and  noses  were  covered  with  curved  stripes  of  red  or  vermilion, 
which  were  edged  with  black  points,  and  gave  the  appearance 
of  a  horrid  grin  over  the  entire  countenance.  The  long,  coarse, 
black  hair  was  gathered  into  scalp-locks  on  the  tops  of  their 
heads,  and  decorated  with  a  profusion  of  hawk's  and  eagle's 
feathers,  some  strung  together  so  as  to  extend  down  the  back 
nearly  to  the  ground.  They  were  principally  armed  with  toma- 
hawks and  war  clubs.  They  w^ere  led  by  wliat  answered  for  a 
band  of  music,  which  created  what  may  be  termed  a  discordant 
din  of  hiaeous  noises  produced  by  beating  on  hollow  vessels 
and  striking  sticks  and  clubs  together.  They  advanced,  not 
with  a  regular  march,  but  a  continued  dance.  Their  actual 
progress  w^as  quite  slow.  They  proceeded  up  and  along  the 
bank  of  the  river,  on  the  north  side,  stopping  in  front  of  every 
house  they  passed,  where  they  performed  some  extra  exi)loits. 
They  crossed  the  North  Branch  on  the  old  bridge,  which  stood 
near  where  the  railroad  bridge  now  stands,  and  thence  pro- 
ceeded south  along  the  west  side  to  the  liridgc  across  the  South 
Branch,  which  stood  south  of  where  Lake  street  bridge  is  nnw 
located,  which  was  nearly  in  front  and  in  full  view  from  t la- 
parlor  window^s  of  the  Sauganash  Hotel.  At  that  time,  tliis  wa.< 
the  rival  hotel  to  the  Tremont,  and  stood  ujjon  the  same  groinid 
lately  occupied  by  the  great  Republican  wigwam  where   Mr 

*  North-east  corner  of  North  Water  and  Rush  Streets. 


28  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

Lincoln  was  nominated  for  the  presidency — 80  feet  south  of  the 
S.E.  corner  of  Lake  and  IMarket  streets.  It  was  tlien  a  fashion- 
able boarding-house,  and  quite  a  number  of  young  married 
people  had  rooms  there.  The  parlor  was  in  the  second  story 
fronting  west,  from  the  windows  of  which  the  best  view  of  the 
dance  was  to  be  oljtained,  and  these  were  filled  with  ladies  so 
.soon  as  the  dance  commenced.  From  this  point  of  view  my 
own  observations  were  principally  made.  Although  the  din 
and  clatter  had  been  heard  for  a  considerable  time,  they  did 
not  come  into  view  from  this  point  of  observation  till  they  had 
proceeded  so  far  west  as  to  come  on  a  line  with  the  house, 
which  was  before  they  had  reached  the  North  Branch  bridge. 
From  that  time  on,  they  were  in  full  view  all  the  way  to  the 
South  Branch  bridge,  which  was  nearly  before  us,  the  wild 
band,  which  was  in  front  as  they  came  upon  the  bridge,  redoub- 
ling their  blows  to  increase  the  noise,  closely  followed  by  the 
warriors,  who  had  now  wrought  themselves  into  a  perfect 
frenzy. 

The  morning  was  very  warm,  and  the  prespiration  was  x)our- 
ing  from  them  almost  in  streams.  Their  eyes  were  wild  and 
bloodshot.  Their  countenances  had  assumed  an  expression  of 
all  the  worst  passions  which  can  find  a  place  in  the  breast  of  a 
savage — fierce  anger,  terrible  hate,  dire  revenge,  remorseless 
cruelty — all  were  expressed  in  their  terrible  features.  Their 
muscles  stood  out  in  great  hard  knots,  as  if  wrought  to  a  tensicm 
which  must  burst  them.  Their  tomahawks  and  clubs  were 
thrown  and  brandished  about  in  every  direction,  witli  the  most 
terrible  ferocity,  and  with  a  force  and  energy  which  could  only 
result  from  the  highest  excitement,  and  with  every  step  and 
every  gesture,  they  uttered  the  most  friglitful  yells,  in  every 
imaginable  key  and  note,  though  generally  the  highest  and 
shrillest  possible.  The  dance,  which  was  ever  continued,  con- 
sisted of  leajjs  and  simsmodic  steps,  now  forward  and  now  back 
or  sideways,  with  the  whole  body  distorted  into  every  imagi- 
nable unnatural  position,  most  generally  stooping  forward,  with 
tjie  head  and  face  thrown  up,  the  back  arclied  down,  first  one 
foot  thrown  far  forward  and  then  withdrawn,  and  the  other 
similarly  thrust  out,  frequently  squatting  quite  to  the  ground, 
and  all  with  a  movement  almost  as  quick  as  lightning.  Their 
weapons  were   brandished  as  if  they  would  slay  a  thousand 


AND  A  SKETCH   OF  Till-:   POTTA\VAT(  >MI  i:s.      •.'!» 

enemies  at  every  blow,  while  the  yells  and  sereams  they  uttered 
were  broken  up  and  multiplied  and  rendered  all  the  more 
hideous  by  a  rapid  clapping  of  the  mouth  with  the  palm  nf  the 
hand. 

To  see  such  an  exhibition  by  a  single  individual  would  have 
been  suflBcient  to  excite  a  sense  of  fear  in  a  person  n(it  over 
nervous.  Eight  hundred  such,  all  under  the  influence  of  the 
strongest  and  wildest  excitement,  constituting  a  raging  sea  of 
dusky,  painted,  naked  fiends,  presented  a  spectacle  al)solutely 
appalling. 

When  the  head  of  the  colunni  had  reached  the  front  of  the 
hotel,  leaping,  dancing,  gesticulating,  and  screaming,  while 
they  looked  up  at  the  windows  with  hell  itself  depicted  on 
their  faces,  at  the  "chemokoman  S(|uaws"  with  which  they 
were  filled,  and  brandishing  their  weapons  as  if  they  were 
about  to  make  a  real  attack  in  deadly  earnest,  the  rear  was  still 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  two  hundred  yards  off;  and  all 
the  intervening  space,  including  the  bridge  and  its  approaches, 
was  covered  with  this  raging  savagery  glistening  in  the  sun. 
reeking  with  streamy  sweat,  fairly  frothing  at  the  mouths  a& 
with  unaftected  rage,  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  a  picture  of  hell 
itself  before  us,  and  a  carnival  of  the  damned  spirits  their  con- 
fined, wdiose  pastimes  we  may  suppose  should  present  .some 
such  scenes  as  this. 

At  this  stage  of  the  spectacle,  I  was  interested  to  observe 
the  effect  it  had  upon  the  different  ladies  who  occupied  the 
windows  almost  within  reach  of  the  war  clubs  in  the  hands  of 
the  excited  savages  just  below  them.  I^Iost  of  theui  had  be- 
come accustomed  to  the  sight  of  the  naked  savages  during  the 
several  weeks  they  had  occupied  the  town,  and  had  even  seen 
them  in  the  dance  before,  for  several  minor  dances  had  bnn 
previously  performed,  but  this  far  excelled  in  the  horri.l  .uiy- 
thing  wliich  they  had  previously  witnessed.  Others,  howevei-, 
had  "but  just  arrived  in  town,  and  had  never  seen  an  Indian 
before  the  last  few  days, and  knew  nothing  of  our  wild  western 
Indians  but  what  they  had  learned  of  their  savage  butelieiie> 
and  tortures  in  legends  and  in  histories.  To  those  most  fan.il- 
iar  with  them,  the  scenes  seemed  actually  appalling,  and  l)ut 
few  stood  it  through  and  met  the  fierce  glare  of  the  savoge  eyes 
below    them   without   shrinking.     It    was  a   place   to   try  ilw 


30  THE  LAST  OF  THE  ILLINOIS, 

human  nerves  of  even  the  stoutest,  and  all  felt  that  one  such 
sight  was  enough  for  a  lifetime.  The  question  forced  itself  on 
even  those  who  had  seen  them  most,  what  if  they  should,  in 
their  maddened  frenzy,  turn  this  sham  warfare  into  a  real 
attack  ?  how  easy  it  would  be  for  them  to  massacre  us  all,  and 
leave  not  a  living  soul  to  tell  the  story.  Some  such  remark  as 
this  was  often  heard,  and  it  was  not  strange  if  the  cheeks  of  all 
paled  at  the  thought  of  such  a  possibility.  However,  most  of 
them  stood  it  bravely,  and  saw  the  sight  to  the  very  end ;  but 
I  think  all  felt  relieved  when  the  last  had  disappeared  around 
the  corner  as  they  passed  down  Lake  street,  and  only  those 
'  horrid  sounds  which  reached  them  told  that  the  war  dance 
was  still  progressing.  They  paused  in  their  progress,  for 
extra  exploits,  in  front  of  Dr.  John  T.  Temple's  house,  near 
the  north-east  corner  of  Lake  and  Franklin  streets,  then  in 
front  of  the  Exchange  Coifee  House,  a  little  further  east  on 
Lake  street;  and  then  again  in  front  of  the  Tremont,  then 
situated  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets, 
where  the  aj^pearance  of  the  ladies  in  the  windows  again 
inspired  them  with  new  life  and  energy.  From  thence  they 
passed  down  to  Fort  Dearborn,  where  they  concluded  their 
performance  in  the  presence  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
garrison,  where  we  will  take  a  final  leave  of  my  old  friends, 
with  more  good  wishes  for  their  future  welfare  than  I  really 
dare  hope  will  be  realized. 


Origin  OF  the  prairies 


READ  BEFORE  THE 


OTTAWA  ACADEMY  OF  NATURAL  SCIENCKS. 
December  30TH,  1869, 

BY 

Hon.  John  Dean  Caton.   LL.D., 

LATE  CHIEF-IUSTICE  OF  HJ.IXOIS. 


CHICAGO : 
FERGUS    PRINTING    COM  PAN  V, 

244-S  Illinois  Street. 
1876. 


Origin  of  the  Prairies. 


I  PROPOSE  to  offer  ^()lne  observations  on  the  Origin  of  tlie 
Prairies,  though  it  may  seem  like  ])resumptiou  in  me  to  attempt 
the  discussion  of  a  subject  which  that  greatest  of  nature's  stu- 
dents, the  immortal  Humboldt,  seems  studiously  to  have  avoid- 
ed. He  describes  to  us  all  ihe  prairies  of  the  world,  a  great 
portion  of  which  he  had  personally  examined.  He  gives  us 
their  area,  their  geography,  their  topography,  their  surround- 
ing, their  components,  and  their  products,  but  gives  us  no  word 
of  suggestion  or  explanation  why  they  are  destitute  of  trees, 
when  surrounded  and  interspersed  everywhere  by  forests. 
This,  indeed,  seems  very  remarkable  itj^  one  who  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  extraordinary  man  that  ever  lived  for  observiuf'. 
studying,  and  explaining  every  interesting  phenomenon  in 
nature.  Why  has  not  he,  the  most  able  of  all  men  to  di.scuss 
it,  favored  us  with  his  views  on  this  subject"?  We  are  hardly 
at  liberty  to  supjiose  it  was  a  mere  oversight,  and  are  lotii  to 
l)elieve  that  he  considered  the  inquirj^  of  so  little  importauce 
as  to  be  unworthy  of  his  notice.  This  would  be  too  severe  a 
reflection  upon  all  those  who  have  since  considered  the  incjuiry 
worthy  of  the  most  serious  consideration.  Since  his  time  it 
has  been  the  subject  of  much  study  and  of  many  and  conrtict- 
ing  theories.  Altliough  he,  whom  of  all  others  we  sliould  li- 
ten  to  with  the  greatest  interest,  in  answer  to  his  in((uiiy,  has, 
so  far  as  I  know,  not  chosen  to  enlighten  us  with  his  vii-ws,  yet 
the  origin  of  the  Prairies  is  a  theme  wliicii  has  commanded  the 
attention  of  many,  both  of  those  whose  eminent  attainmeuts 
entitle  them  to  the  appellation  of  learned,  and  those  who  JwcII 
upon  them  Ijut  make  no  pretensions  to  sucli  distinction.  My 
the  former,  theories  have   been  advanced,  and  elaborated,  ami 


34  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES, 

placed  on  record,  some  of  which  are  quite  inconsistent  with 
others,  so  that  all  of  them,  at  least,  cannot  be  true ;  and  proba- 
]Ay  we  should  not  be  very  far  out  of  the  way  should  we  con- 
clude that  some  errors  have  crept  into  all,  and  also  that  none  of 
them  are  entirely  destitute  of  truth.  Indeed,  we  are  some- 
times inclined  to  the  belief  that  each  one  has  written  as  if 
called  upon  to  advance  something  entirely  original,  and  this 
may  have  led  some  to  the  very  borders  of  al:»surdity,  and  would 
almost  induce  the  belief  that  their  autJiors  had  never  seen  a 
prairie.  Upon  this,  as  upon  all  other  subjects  where  we  must 
depend  upon  evidence  to  lead  us  to  correct  conclusions,  it  is 
indispensable  that  we  proceed  upon  fads  and,  so  far  as  possi- 
ble, all  the  facts  which  can  enlighten  our  judgments  upon  the 
suliject.  The  very  moment  we  proceed  upon  assumed  facts 
which  in  truth  do  not  exist,  then  most  likely  the  first  step  will 
be  error,  and  so  we  .shall  be  led  by  false  lights  to  the  very  end, 
and  it  will  be  remarkable  if  our  conclusions  are  not  erroneous. 

All  men,  and  especially  the  learned,  are,  perhaps,  too  prone 
to  theorizing,  and  such  is  the  weakness  of  human  nature  that 
when  a  theory  is  once  formed  and  announced,  it  is  our  child,  our 
offspring,  our  fondling,  and  we  seem  to  feel  the  obligation  of  a 
parent  to  ever  after  n^intain  and  support  it.  Though,  as  it 
grows  up,  it  may  Ijecome  deformed  and  ugly,  and  unworthy  of 
our  further  care,  it  requires  the  stoicism  of  the  Roman  father 
to  discard  it  and  order  its  execution.  All  manner  of  violence 
is  done  to  facts  to  win  support  and  sustenance  for  the  bantling, 
and  every  grain  of  proof  in  its  defense  is  made  to  weigh  a 
pound. 

Each  of  the  theories  which  have  been  advanced  on  this 
subject  undoubtedly  has  some  facts  for  its  support,  and  possi- 
bly may  account  for  the  formation  of  some  prairies;  but  neither 
is  capable  of  accounting  for  all  prairies.  Hence  I  conclude  that 
various  causes  have  contributed  to  the  formation  of  the  prairies. 
It  may  be  that  some  prairies  have  been  formed  by  processes 
entirely  different  from  processes  which  have  formed  others. 

But,  first  of  all,  in  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  and  so  it  is  ' 
of  all  others,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  distinct  understanding  of 
the»subject  to  be  discussed.     We  must  know  jirecisely  what 
particular  facts  are  to  be  explained — what  phenomena  are  to  be 
accounted  for.     There  are  two  distinct  elements  to  be  consid- 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIHIE.S.  :ir, 

ered  in  the  discussion  of  this  sulyecl.  Thu  one  is  Uio  deposi 
tion  of  the  soils  and  the  configuration  of  the  surfaces  of  the 
prairies;  and  the  other  is  the  absence  of  arborescent  vegetation 
upon  them,  in  what  may  be  termed  their  natural  state,  while 
they  are  clothed  with  a  rich.coat  of  herbaceous  vegetation.  So 
it  Avill  be  seen  that  I  only  propose  to  discuss  wliat  may  hv 
called  the  fertile  prairies,  laying  entirely  out  of  view  those  arid 
deserts  formed  in  many  portions  of  the  globe  where  rains  an- 
so  seldom  that  few  varieties  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  can  exist 
without  artificial  irrigation. 

My  attention  has  been  lately  recalled  to  this  subject  by  the 
re-persual  of  a  paper  prepared  by  Professor  Leo  Lesquereaux 
for  the  report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Illinois,  and  jiuli- 
lislied  in  that  Report,  Vol.  1,  page  238.  Hence  has  it  become 
the  property  of  our  State,  and  invites  the  criticism  of  all  her 
citizens,  thousands  of  whom  have  devoted  much  study  to  the 
subject,  with  better  means  of  understanding  it  than  is  possible- 
to  one  whose  observations  are  confined  to  a  mere  superficial 
examination  of  them,  as  was  evidently  the  case  with  the  learned 
author  of  this  jiajjer,  as  I  think  I  shall  show  before  I  conclude, 
although  I  attempt  it  with  the  greatest  deference  and  respect 
for  such  high  authority. 

The  theory  of  the  learned  Professor  may  be  briefiy  stated 
.thus :  Prairies  were  originally  formed  in  the  shallow  margins 
of  agitated  waters,  either  lakes  or  running  streams.  By  the 
agitation  of  the  waters  of  lakes  drifting  material  is  thrown  up 
at  a  greater  or  less  distance  from  the  sliores,  forming  dams  or 
dykes,  which  serve  to  cut  off  shallow  sections  of  water  from  the 
main  body,.  These  shallow  ponds  of  water,  being  protected 
from  the  agitations  of  the  main  body,  become  the  habitat  of 
aquatic  plants,  which  in  successive  crops  decay  and  an-  repro- 
duced, thus  contributing  to  fill  up  the  shallow  pools,  whicli  end 
is  also  promoted  hy  atmospheric  dejjosits  and  the  growth  and 
decay  of  animal  aquatic  life,  until  iinally  the  bottom  of  the 
pent  up  waters  is  raised  above  the  surface,  and  a  prairie  is 
formed.  The  same  process  is  repeated  along  the  margins  of 
rivers,  where  similar  deposits  are  made  in  the  still  waters  on 
either  side  of  the  active  current,  which  cuts  off  sections  of  slial- 
low  water  into  quiet  ponds  along  the  river  bottoms,  which 
become  filled  up  and  are  converted  into  prairies  in  tiie  same 


36  ORIGIN   OF  THE  PRAIRIES, 

way.  TJie  paper  says  :  "This  ijeculiarity  of  formation  explains,. 
lirst,  tlie  peculiar  nature  of  the  soil  of  the  prairies.  It  is- 
neither  peat  nor  humus,  but  a  black,  soft  mould,  impregnated 
with  a  large  proportion  of  ulmic  acid,  produced  by  the  slow 
decomposiiion,  mostly  under  water,  of  aquatic  plants,  and  thus 
partaking  as  mui;h  of  the  nature  of  j^eat  as  true  humus.  In  all 
the  depressions  of  the  prairies,  where  water  is  permanent  and; 
unmixed  with  mineral  matter,  the  ground  is  true  peat.  It  is 
easy  to  understand  why  trees  cannot  grow  on  such  kind  of 
ground." 

Now,  the  first  criticism  which  the  consideration  of  this 
theory  invites  is,  that  it  assumes  that  all  prairie  soils  are  of  the 
same  character  and  constituents,  and  hence  the  conclusion  that 
tliey  are  all  formed  in  the  same  way  and  are  alike  unfitted  \o 
the  growth  of  trees. 

All  familiar  with  the  prairies,  even  the  most  superficial 
observers,  know  tliat  this  is  not  the  case.  There  is  almost,  if 
not  quite,  as  great  a  variety  of  prairie  soils  as  of  woodland 
soils.  Scarcely  one  acre  in  the  thousand  of  the  great  prairies 
of  Illinois  and  Iowa  would  be  recognized  by  this  description. 
Peat  bogs,  as  described  by  our  author,  are  frequently  met  with, 
and  sometimes  bordering  them  the  kind  of  soil  he  describes- 
where  jwnds  have  l:)een  filled  ujJ  and  converted  into  marshes, 
and  these,  by  a  continuance  of  the  same  ])rocess,  have  finally 
become  dry  prairies ;  but  a  very  large  pro2)ortion  of  our  dry  ' 
prairies  abound  in  true  humus,  while  many  are  scantily  fur- 
nished with  vegetable  matter.  Such  is  the  character  of  all  our 
sandy  prairies,  a  striking  example  of  which  is  found  near 
Pekin,  in  this  State,  stretching  clear  away  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mackinaw,  and  even  beyond  it.  Of  the  same  character,  also, 
are  the  prairies  at  Peoria,  at  Ciiillicothe,  at  Lacou,  at  Hennepin, 
and  at  Henry,  and  twenty  others  which  I  could  name  in  Ill- 
inois. This  soil  is  as  permeable  to  the  atmosphere,  is  as  acces- 
sible to  oxj'gen  as  any  soil  capable  of  sustaining  vegetable  life. 

Surely  these  prairies  are  not  treeless  because  the  seeds  of 
arborescent  plants  deposited  on  or  in  them  are  not  accessible  to 
the  oxygen  necessary  to  their  development,  which  is,  in  fact, 
the  only  reason  which  the  writer  assigns  for  the  al)seuce  of 
trees  on  the  prairies.  He  says,  immediately  after  my  last  quo- 
tation :     "  The  germination  of  seeds  of  arborescent  plants  needs 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  :!? 

the  free  access  of  oxygen  for  its  dovolopinents,  and  tlie  trees, 
especially  in  their  youth,  absorb  by  their  roots  a  great  amount 
of  air,  and  demand  a  solid  point  of  attachment  to  fix  them 
selves.  Moreover,  the  acid  of  this,  l)y  its  particularly  antiseptic 
properties,  promotes  the  vegetation  of  a  peculiar  grouji  of 
plants  principally  herbaceous."  The  truth  is,  all  the  vegetation 
found  on  the  high  prairies  requires  the  accessiljility  (^f  oxygen 
to  its  roots  for  its  proper  nutrition — nay,  its  vitality.  Transfer 
the  grasses  on  the  rolling  prairies  into  the  swamps,  or  even  the 
humid  soil  of  the  swales,  and  they  will  die  as  if  burned  with 
fire.  Tlie  vegetation  upon  the  prairies  changes  as  tlicy  become 
dryer,  no  matter  from  what  cause.  Artificial  draining  produces 
this  effect  with  appreciable  rapidity.  Tliis,  no  doubt,  is  not 
entirely  owing  to  the  absence  of  stagnant  water  in  tlie  soil, 
but  also  to  the  absence  of  certain  salts,  which  have  been  washed 
out  by  aftbrding  a  passage  to  the  water  percolating  through  the 
soil.  Although  I  cannot  assert  from  actual  analysis  that  this 
change  takes  place  in  the  constituents  of  the  soil  by  the 
])rocess  of  draining.  I  think  it  is  not  a  hazardous  conjecture  to 
suppose  so,  nor  is  it  more  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
pores  left  vacant  by  draining  off  the  water  are  directly  filled  by 
air,  and  so  is  the  soil  at  once  supplied  with  an  abundance  of 
oxygen  necessary  to  the  vitality  of  a  new  class  of  vegetation, 
which  succeeds  the  old.  The  difterence  in  the  vegetation  found 
on  the  different  prairies,  or  on  different  parts  of  the  same  prai- 
ries, testifies  to  the  different  constituents  in  their  soils.  So 
soon  as  the  soil  is  raised  above  the  water,  atmos])heric  air 
will  penetrate  It,  .more  and  more,  in  almost  the  exact  ratio  that 
it  becomes  dryer.  Both  mechanical  and  chemical  changes  aic 
thence  continually  going  on,  and  so  are  the  constituents  of  the 
soil  continually  changing,  and  so  does  the  character  of  the  vege- 
tation found  upon  them  change,  so  that  the  soil  will  always 
be  covered  with  some  class  of  vegetatif)n  to  which  it  is  adapted. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  all  the  kinds  of  vegetation  wliicli 
the  soil  is  adapted  to  sustain,  will  Ije  found  there.  Indeed,  but 
a  very  few  may  be  looked  for.  The  selection  of  tliose  that 
are  found,  and  the  exclusion  of  those  absent,  arc  determined 
by  causes  quite  independent  of  the  constituents  of  the  soil. 
They  are  dependent  upon  accidental  causes. 

The  theory  under  consideration  also  assumes  tliat  the  subsoil 


38  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

of  the  prairies  is  uniformly  clay.  A  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  prairies  would  have  corrected  this  misapprehen- 
sion. The  super-soil  of  the  prairies  sometimes  rests  upon 
gravel  and  sometimes  upon  rock,  and  sometimes  this  gravel 
subsoil,  at  a  greater  or  less  depth,  rests  upon  either  a  stratum  of 
clay  or  upon  rock.  An  example  of  the  former  may  be  found 
on  the  east  side  of  the  DuPage  river,  above  Plainfield,  in  this 
State, — where  we  have  the  exceptional  case  of  the  entire 
absence  of  timber  along  the  borders  of  a  considerable  river  for 
many  miles, — and  in  many  places  along  the  Fox  river.  Also, 
near  Lisbon  and  at  Joliet,  we  find  tlie  soil  resting  upon  rock, 
with  no  clay  interposed.  Near  Lisbon,  particularly,  this  is 
found  on  the  high,  rolling  prairie,  far  aw^ay  from  the  river 
bottoms  and  from  timber.  I  might  cite  many  similar  examples, 
l)Ut  it  is  unnecessary.  The  vegetation  covering  all  these,  when 
not  controlled  by  the  humidity  of  the  soil,  is  substantially  the 
same,  but  neither  the  surface  or  the  subsoil  has  in  general  any- 
thing to  do  with  absence  of  arborescent  vegetation. 

That  the  prairies — that  is,  the  land  itself — have  been  formed 
under  water,  except  the  very  limited  portion  of  the  surface 
which  has  been  added  from  decomposed  animal  and  vegetable 
matter  since  their  emergence,  will  not  be  questioned  by  any 
one  of  the  least  observation ;  but  that  is  not  the  main  question 
involved  in  the  present  inquiry.  Why  are  they  not  covered 
with  forests?  It  is  the  cause  of  this  feature  whici)  Prof.  Les- 
quereaux  undertakes  to  explain.  II is  theory  of  the  territorial 
formation  is  introduced  solely  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
this  phenomenon,  and  which  it  fails  to  explain,  at  least  to  my 
satisfaction. 

If  the  Grand  Prairie  of  Illinois  was  formed  under  water, 
from  which  it  emerged  hj  a  slow  process  of  elevation  or  by  a 
subsidence  of  the  waters,  a  theory  to  which  I  am  prepared  to 
assent,  or  if  it  was  formed  ijiecemeal  by  having  one  section  of 
shallow  water,  and  then  another,  cut  off  from  the  main  body 
by  the  accumulation  of  deposits  by  the  agitated  waters,  as 
described  in  the  theory  under  consideration,  then  the  lands 
now  covered  by  the  immense  forests  lying  north  and  east  of  us, 
in  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  and  of  the  .^ame 
general  altitude,  were  formed  in  the  same  way ;  and  if  this 
process  of  formation  is  the  true  cause  why  trees  are  not  found 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  30 

on  our  prairies,  then  the  same  cause  should  liave  proiUiccd  the 
same  effect  there.  But  more,  if  this  theory  be  correct,  then  the 
latest  formations  of  land  should  be  nearest  the  great  bodies  of 
water  from  which  they  have  been  detaclied,  and  less  congenial 
to  the  growth  of  trees,  and  we  should  expect  to  find  the  forests 
most  remote  from  the  waters.  Now,  the  very  reverse  of  tliis  i^ 
found,  in  fact,  to  be  the  case.  At  one  single  point  alone  does 
tlie  Grand  Prairie  abut  on  Lake  Michigan,  and  that  for  the 
short  distance  of  four  miles  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago 
river.  The  great  forests  of  Indiana  are  in  the  north  part  of 
that  State,  and  we  must  go  south  of  those  forests  to  find  her 
large  and  luxuriant  prairies.  In  Northwestern  Indiana  we  find 
those  large  swamps,  which  may  have  been  cut  off  from  the 
waters  of  the  lakes  in  the  manner  supposed  ))y  Prof  Lesquere- 
aux,  and  which  are  now  in  the  process  of  being  filled  up;  but 
it  is  a  remarkable  and  interesting  fact,  that,  wherever  a  point, 
no  matter  how  small,  in  any  of  these  great  marshes  has  l)cen 
raised  above  high  water,  it  is  covered  with  trees.  No  traveler 
can  pass  over  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne,  and  Chicago  Railroad, 
for  instance,  without  having  his  attention  arrested  by  the 
innumerable  islands,  all  covered  with  trees,  rising  everywhere 
oat  of  this  great  marsh,  all  with  surfaces  but  a  very  few  feet 
above  the  water.  If  he  has  ever  passed  down  the  St.  Lawrence, 
among  the  Thousand  Islands,  he  is  at  once  reminded  of  the 
fact  by  the  similarity  of  the  relative  location,  size,  and  number 
of  the  islands.  I  have  in  vain  sought  among  these  marshes  for 
a  dry  place  devoid  of  trees,  except  on  the  dykes  themselves, 
portions  of  which  may  be  found  (luite  destitute  of  any  vegeta- 
tion, where  the  dry  sand  will  afford  sustenance  to  none. 

That  these  marshes  once  formed  a  portion  of  tlie  body  of  the 
lake,  and  have  been  cut  off  from  it  by  dykes  thrown  up  l)y 
agitated  waters,  may  be  true.  Indeed,  these  dykes  are  as 
readily  traced  to-day  as  are  the  shores  of  the  lake  or  the  l)or- 
ders  of  the  marshes  themselves;  but  they  are  not  uniformly 
overgrown  with  trees,  as  is  supposed  l)y  the  author  of  tiic 
theory  under  consideration.  More  than  thirty-five  years  ago  I 
examined  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  tliese  ridges,  south  of 
where  the  village  of  Thornton  now  stands.  It  is  composed 
principally  of  compact  gravels,  as  straight  as  possible,  nearly 
north  and  south;  I  should  think,  perhaps,  three  hun.lnd  leet 


40  0IIIC4IN   OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

wide,  and  elevated,  probalily,  ten  feet  above  the  marslics  on 
each  side.  It  is  as  regular  in  its  grade  as  if  thrown  up  by  the 
hand  of  man,  under  the  direction  of  a  skillful  engineer,  and 
constitutes  the  most  beautiful  natural  drive  I  ever  saw,  and,  I 
understand,  is  now  u.sed  as  a  public  road.  Not  a  tree  was 
standing  on  it,  nor  the  evidence  that  there  had  ever  been  one. 
The  soil  was  light,  but  sufficient  to  sustain  the  pine  or  the 
l)lack  oak. 

Although  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  dyke  cut  off 
the  waters  to  the  west  long  before  the  waters  to  the  east  of  it 
were  separated  from  the  lake  by  a  similar  process,  yet  the 
marsh  on  the  west  was  not,  and  I  venture  to  say  is  not  now, 
elevated  appreciably  more  than  that  on  the  east.  This  may 
serve  to  teach  us  how  extremely  slow  is  the  filling  up  process 
of  these  marshes,  even  after  they  have  been  elevated  so  as  to 
become  passable  to  animals,  and  are  annually  covered  with  a 
heavy  growth  of  grass — so  slf)W,  indeed,  that  it  is  inappreciable 
from  one  generation  of  men  to  anothei'.  I  accept  this  as  an 
evidence  of  the  formation  of  some  prairies  in  the  manner  sup- 
posed In'  our  author,  but  not  as  a  reason  why  they  arc  destitute 
of  trees.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  does  not  sufficiently  appreci- 
ate the  effect  of  the  chemical  and  mechanical  action  of  the 
elements  upon  all  things  aljove  the  waters  even  in  a  short 
period,  as  reckcmed  Ijy  geological  time,  in  which  the  life  of 
man  is  so  short  as  to  be  hardly  an  appreciable  moment,  and  the 
entire  historic  period  is  scarcely  long  enough  for  a  single 
breath.  Although,  geologically  speaking,  we  can  consider  this 
a  new  country,  yet  time  enough  has  elapsed  since  these  high 
prairies  were  lii'st  elevated,  or  rathei,  I  will  say,  were  last 
elevated  above  the  waters,  to  add  to  them  something,  at  least, 
from  animal  and  vegetable  deposits  and  ])articles  floating  in 
the  atmosphere,  though  slow  indeed  has  been  and  will  be  this 
accumulation  upon  the  surface,  accelerated  or  retarded  by 
liuman  industry  where  civilization  directs  its  energies. 

Through  the  changes  of  accumulating  ages,  the  soils  of  our 
prairies  and  woodlands  have,  no  doubt,  at  different  times,  been 
adapted  to  the  healthy  growth  of  almost  every  variety  of 
vegetation  of  the  temperate  zone,  Ijoth  herbaceous  and  arbores- 
cent, nor  do  I  think  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  not  only 
our   present  prairies,    but   the  great   forest  land  covering  the 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   IMJAIIUHS  n 

plains  which  siJrcad  nwny  clear  to  the  foot  of  the  mountaiiKs 
east  of  us,  may  have  l)eeu  many  times  clothed  with  lieuvy 
forests,  and  these  again  denuded  to  naked  i)rairies.  It  is  a 
familiar  fact,  that  places  have  been  found  covered  witli  what 
appeared  a  primeval  forest  of  hard  wood,  showing  abundant 
remains  of  a  growtli  of  pine,  which  must  once  have  occupied 
the  same  place.  No  fact  is  better  settled  in  agricultural  science, 
than  that  any  particular  crop  of  vegetation,  if  long  continued, 
will  in  tim(!  exhaust  the  element  necessary  to  its  vigorous 
growth,  when,  if  vegetation  requiring  a  different  clement  he 
substituted,  it  will  grow  with  peculiar  luxuriance.  Hence  the 
necessity  for  rotation  of  crops,  which  has  been  thus  enforced 
by  the  laws  of  nature  herself  long  before  man  appreciated  its 
utility  or  adopted  it  in  practice. 

When  the  vegetation  is  not  taken  from  the  ground,  but  is 
allowed  to  return  to  it,  the  process  of  exhaustion  i.s,  no  doul>t, 
retarded  to  a  certain  extent,  Init  is  not  entirely  arrested,  and 
hence  we  see  this  rotation  of  crops  wrought  out  l)y  the  hand  of 
nature  itself,  although  at  longer  intervals  than  is  re<|uireil  fdr 
the  husbandman. 

I  entirely  concur  in  the  popular  opinion,  that  among  the 
most  important  of  the  causes  which  have  produced  this  inter- 
esting result  is  fire,  while  the  exhaustion  and  replenishing  the 
soil  with  particular  elements  have,  no  doubt,  had  their  in- 
fluence. 

The  opinions  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  prairies,  who  are 
often  good  observers  of  many  phenomena,  are  entitled  to 
respect,  and,  s©  far  as  I  am  aware,  they  universally  attribute  the 
absence  of  trees  from  the  prairies  to  the  ]K'riodical  (ires  whi<-li 
swept  over  them,  overlooking,  no  doubt,  many  minor  causes. 
The  hard,  impenetrable  character  of  the  sward,  formed  by 
most  of  the  herbaceous  vegetation  of  the  piairics,  forms  a 
serious  impediment  to  the  germination  of  seeds  of  trees,  when. 
by  accident,  they  fall  upon  it.  It  is  not  the  composition  of  the 
soil  that  prevents  the  germination  of  this  class  of  seeds,  but 
whatever  difficulty  is  experienced  in  this  regard  arises  from 
the  mechanical  cause  above  suggested.  The  hrrl)aceous  vege- 
tation which  covers  the  prairies  is  furnished  with  an  immense 
number  of  very  strong  roots,— far  more  so  than  any  of  tlie  tame 
or  cultivated  grasses.     In  general,  these  form  a  complete  mat 


42  ORIGIN  OF  THE   PRAIRIES. 

ml  the  surface  and  penetrate  to  a  great  depth.  They  are  often 
met  with  of  a  considerable  size  at  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  feet. 
The  extraordinary  system  of  ca))illary  roots  witli  which  tiiey 
are  furnished  enables  them  to  remain  green  and  vigorous  during 
the  long  droughts,  which  much  more  frequently  occur  on  the 
prairies  than  in  the  timbered  lands  and  in  mountainous  coun- 
tries, during  which  the  cultivated  grasses,  and  even  the  clover, 
with  its  long  tap-roots,  greatly  suffer.  These  long  droughts,  no 
doubt,  also  exert  their  influence  to  pre\ent  the  germination  of 
arborescent  seeds  on  the  prairies,  or  to  destroy  the  young 
plants,  or,  at  least,  to  prepare  them  for  certain  destruction 
when  the  autumnal  fires  shall  sweep  over  them. 

It  is  a  familiar  fact  to  all  careful  observers  that  fire  is  much 
more  destructive  to  the  vitality  of  arborescent  than  to  herba- 
ceous plants,  caeteris  paribus.  A  fire  that  will  destroy  the  last 
vestige  of  life  in  a  tree  of  considerable  size  will  leave  the 
roots  of  the  grasses  surrounding  it  unharmed,  from  which  will 
spring  a  more  luxuriant  growth  the  succeeding  season.  Indeed, 
it  is  a  most  interesting  fact,  familiar  to  all  the  early  settlers 
who  depended  upon  the  prairie  grasses  for  jjasturage  and  for 
hay,  that  a  much  more  luxuriant  growth  is  produced  on  the 
prairies  where  the  old  grass  is  burned  off  than  where  it  i& 
allowed  to  remain  and  decay  upon  the  ground.  I  have  in  per- 
son often  made  careful  observations  on  this  subject,  and  uni- 
formly with  the  same  result.  The  farmer  does  not  burn  ofl["  the 
old  grass  in  the  fall  solely  that  it  may  not  obstruct  the  scythe 
\vhen  mowing  the  next  year's  crop,  but  the  most  casual  obser- 
vation will  show  one  that  the  actual  growth  of  grass  is,  ordin- 
arily, at  least,  one-third  greater  where  the  old  grass  has  been 
burned  oft"  in  the  fall.  I  ^lall  not  stop  now  to  explain  why 
this  is  so,  although  I  think  it  susceptible  of  a  most  satisfactory 
solution,  but  at  present  content  myself  with  the  fact  that  the 
roots  ot  the  prairie  herbage  are  not  injured  by  a  very  consider- 
able degree  of  heat  where  even  large  trees  would  be  liable  to 
1)6  destroyed.  What,  then,  must  be  the  fate  of  the  tree  of  but 
a  few  months'  growth?  Utter  annihilation  seems  absolutely 
inevitable.  So  long  as  the  j^rairies  are  subject  to  the  annual 
conflagrations,  to  which  they  are  so  much  exposed  in  a  state  of 
nature,  there  is  a  manifest  cause  why  trees  get  a  lodgment  on 
them  with  so  much  difficulty. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  48 

While  I  will  make  no  question  with  Prof.  Lescjuercaii.x  ius  to 
the  process  by  which  the  marshes  or  swamps  in  the  vicinity  of 
some  of  our  lakes  and  rivers  have  been  formed,  or  the  reasons 
why  trees  do  not  grow  in  them,  conceding  that  perpetual  stag- 
nant water  is  destructive  of  arboraceous  vitality,  tlie  error,  I 
conceive,  consists  in  carrying  the  proposition  too  far,  and  ai)ply- 
ing  it  where  the  existing  conditions  render  it  inapplicable — 
in  extending  it  from  the  marshes  perpetually  covered  with 
water  to  the  high,  rolling  prairie.s,  where  none  of  the  condi- 
tions exist  which  prevent  the  growth  of  trees  in  the  stagnant 
waters  of  the  marshes.  The  cause  of  the  absence  of  trees  on 
the  upland  prairies  is  the  problem  most  important  to  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  our  State,  and  it  is  the  inquiry  which 
alone  I  propose  to  consider,  but  I  cannot  resist  the  rcmaik  that 
wherever  we  do  find  timber  throughout  this  broad  field  of  prai- 
rie, it  is  always  in  or  near  the  humid  jwrtions  of  it, — as  along 
the  margins  of  streams,  or  upon  or  near  the  springy  uplands;. 
3Iany  most  luxuriant  groves  are  found  on  the  highest  portions 
of  the  uplands,  but  always  in  the  neighborhood  of  water.  For 
a  remarkable  example,  I  may  refer  to  that  great  chain  of  groves, 
extending  from  and  including  the  AuSable  Grove  on  the  east 
and  Holderman's  Grove  on  the  west,  in  Kendall  county,  occupy- 
ing the  high  divide  between  the  waters  of  the  Illinois  and  the 
Fox  rivers.  In  and  around  all  the  groves  flowing  springs 
abound,  and  some  of  them  are  separated  by  marshes,  to  the  very 
Ijorders  of  which  the  great  trees  apprf)ach,  as  if  the  forest  were 
ready  to  seize  upon  each  yard  of  ground  as  soon  as  it  is  elevated 
above  the  swamps.  Indeed,  all  our  groves  seem  to  be  located 
where  water  is  so  disposed  as  to  protect  them,  to  a  great  or  less 
extent,  from  the  prairie  fire,  although  not  so  situated  as  to  ini- 
gate  them.  If  the  head  waters  of  the  stieams  on  the  prairies 
are  most  frequently  without  timber,  so  soon  as  they  l:ave  at- 
tained sufiicient  volume  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  fires, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  we  find  forests  on  their  borders, 
becoming  broader  and  more  vigorous  as  the  magnitude  of  the 
streams  increase.  It  is  manifest  that  land  located  on  the  ljor-» 
ders  of  streams  which  the  fire  cannot  pass  are  only  expose.l  to 
one-half  the  fires  to  which  they  would  be  exposed  but  for  such 
protection.  This  tends  to  show,  at  least,  that  if  but  onchnlf 
the  fires  that  have  occurred  had  been  kindled,  the  arboraceous 


44  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

growth  could  have  withstood  their  destructive  influences,  and 
the  whole  surface  of  what  is  now  prairie  would  be  forest. 
Another  confirmatory  fact,  patent  to  all  observers,  is,  that  the 
prevailing  winds  upon  the  prairies,  especially  in  the  autumn, 
tire  from  the  west,  and  these  give  direction  to  the  prairie  fires. 
Consequently,  the  lands  on  the  westerly  sides  of  the  streams 
are  the  most  exposed  to  the  fires  and,  as  might  be  expected,  we 
find  much  the  most  timber  on  the  easterly  sides  of  the  streams. 

Another  fact,  always  a  subject  of  remark  among  the  dwellers 
on  the  prairies,  I  regard  as  conclusive  evidence  that  the  prairie 
soils  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  trees  is,  that 
wherever  the  fires  have  been  kept  from  the  groves  by  the  set- 
tlers, they  have  rapidly  encroached  upon  the  prairies,  unless 
closely  depastured  by  the  farmer's  stock  or  prevented  by  culti- 
vation. This  fact  I  regard  as  established  by  careful  observa- 
tion of  more  than  thirty-five  years,  during  which  I  have  been 
an  interested  witness  of  the  settlement  of  this  country, — from 
the  time  when  a  few  log  cabins,  many  miles  apart,  built  in  the 
borders  of  the  groves,  alone  were  met  with,  till  now  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  great  prairies,  in  our  State  at  least,  are  brought 
under  cultivation  by  the  industry  of  the  husbandman.  Indeed, 
this  is  a  fact  as  well  recognized  by  the  settlers  as  that  corn 
Avill  grow  ujjon  the  prairies  when  properly  cultivated.  Ten 
years  ago  I  heard  the  observation  made,  by  intelligent  and 
observing  men,  that  within  the  preceding  twenty-five  years  the 
area  of  the  timber  in  the  prairie  portions  of  the  State  had  actu- 
ally doubled  Ijy  the  spontaneous  extension  of  the  natural 
groves.  However  this  may  be,  certain  it  is  that  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  timber  upon  the  prairies  have  been  universal  and 
rajjid,  wherever  not  impeded  by  fire  or  other  physical  causes, 
without  regard  to  the  constituents  of  the  soil. 

The  manner  and  jirogress  of  the  encroachments  are  familiar 
to  all.  Tlie  hazel  is  the  usual  pioneer  in  these  encroachments, 
though  sometimes  even  this  is  preceded  by  the  wild  aj^ple. 
No  one  can  at  this  day  travel  two  hours  on  any  of  the  railroads 
through  our  prairies  without  passing  some  grove  of  timber  bor- 
dered l^y  considerable  belts  of  hazel,  among  wiiich,  not  far 
from  the  outer  edge,  young  forest  trees  will  appear,  and  these 
will  be  oljserved  larger  and  larger  as  they  are  farther  and 
father  from  the  edge  of  the  grass,  and  are  found   nearer  and 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  45 

nearer  the  original  forest,  and  this  where  tliere  has  been  no 
cultivation.  Tliis  is  the  usual  though  not  universal  appearance 
of  the  surroundings  (/f  the  groves  at  the  present  day.  Some- 
times, no  doubt,  large  trees  will  be  found  as  advance  sentinels, 
standing  out  quite  in  the  prairie,  l)ut  liow  they  have  been  able 
to  maintain  their  ground  there  we  may  not  at  all  times  be  able 
to  explain.  Such  instances  are  rixvc  exceptions.  The  general 
rule  is,  that  the  hazel  is  in  tlie  advance,  and  from  tliis  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  this  shrulj  can  maintain  the  struggle  for 
life  witli  the  prairie  grass  better  tiian  forest  trees,  while  ii> 
turn  it  succumbs  to  the  latter.  In  the  hazel  rough  tlie  seeds 
of  the  trees  iind  an  accessible  soil,  wheie  the  young  plants  are 
indifferent  to  or  are  benefited  by  the  shade.  In  time  tiiey  rise 
above  the  hazel,  and  at  length  grow  to  sufficient  size  to  con- 
stitute a  forest,  and  shade  the  ground,  which  destroys  the 
hazel,  which  was  their  protecting  nurse  in  infancy.  The  facts 
stated,  I  think,  clearly  warrant  the  conclusion  drawn. 

In  the  paper  under  consideration,  the  author,  in  answer  ti> 
some,  I  think,  well-considered  remarks  of  Prof.  Winchell,  says: 
"The  second  assertion,  that  tree.^  will  groir  i»i  the  prairies  irJien 
introduced  or  planted,  is  certainly  true.  But  we  should  take 
care  to  make  a  distinction  l^etween  the  results  of  an  artificial 
process  and  a  natural  one.  AVlien  trees  are  jilanted  on  the  prai- 
rie tiie  soil  is  conveniently  prepared  The  clayey  subsoil 
mixed  with  the  black  mould  forms  a  compound  which  com- 
bines density  of  certain  parts  with  lightness  of  others,  and  con- 
tains a  great  proportion  of  nutritive  elements.  If  the  clay  of 
the  subsoil  is  not  too  thick  to  be  im])ermeable  to  water,  and 
thus  to  retain  it  around  the  roots,  this  prepared  or  artificial 
ground  is  very  appropriate  to  the  growth  of  trees.  But  has 
ever  anybody  seen  oaks  or  hickories,  or  any  other  kind  of  trees, 
grow  in  the  prairies  from  a  bushel  of  acorns  or  of  nuts  tlirown 
upon  their  surface?  Why,  then,  if  trees  will  grow  on  the  prai- 
ries, do  we  not  see  those  isolated  and  far-between  clusters  of 
trees  which  appear  here  and  there  on  the  borders  of  ancient 
lakes  cover  a  wider  area  and  by  and  by  invade  the  wliole  prai- 
ries? Some  of  those  trees  have  lived  there  for  ages,  then- 
trunks  are  strong  and  thick,  and  their  l)ranchcs,  widely  ex- 
panded, are  shaken  and  their  fruits  swept  away  by  the  impetu- 
osity of  the  autumnal  storms;   and,  nevertlieless,  their  domain 


46  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

is  restricted  by  the  nature  of  the  ground  to  limits  which  they 
have  never  surpassed." 

Xow,  the  observations  already  stated,  and  about  which  I 
cannot  be  mistaken,  and  in  support  of  which  thousands  of 
witnesses  who  have  dwelt  ui)on  the  prairies  for  many  years,  and 
have  been  in  the  constant  habit  of  observing  tlie  various  phe- 
nomena which  they  present*  can  l^e  met  with  everywhere  in 
this  prairie  country,  fully  answer  the  suggestions  contained  in 
the  full  extract  which  I  have  made.  Arboreous  seeds,  when 
thrown  upon  the  unbroken  prairie,  do  germinate  and  grow  to 
trees,  but  with  difficulty,  no  doubt,  on  account  of  the  sward  on 
which  ihey  fall,  and  the  great  danger  to  which  they  are  ex- 
posed, especially  from  fires.  Where  they  have  no  protection 
from  these  their  destruction  is  almost  certain,  no  matter  how 
readily  the  seed  may  germinate  or  how  vigorously  the  young 
plants  may  grow.  It  does  not  require  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil,  the  mixing  of  the  clayey  subsoil  with  the  black  mould  of 
the  surface,  to  insure  the  successful  growth  of  trees  upon  the 
prairies.  Indeed,  I  have  already  shown  that  not  all  the  jjrairies 
have  a  clayey  subsoil,  and,  as  is  elsewhere  shown  in  the  paper 
under  consideration,  in  but  few  instances  does  the  clay  ap- 
proach the  surface  to  within  the  reach  of  the  plow.  The  whole 
theory  under  consideration  is  based  on  tlie  fatal  error  that  the 
prairie  soils  are  not  adapted  to  the  gn^wth  of  trees.  I  do  not 
speak  from  mere  conjecture,  but  from  carefully  observed  and 
well  attested  facts,  when  1  say  that  the  exact  reverse  is  the 
case. 

We  have,  then,  oljvious  reasons  why  the  scattered  clusters  of 
trees  referred  to,  the  isolated  groves  upon  the  prairies,  have  not 
extended  their  domain  so  as  to  embrace  the  whole  field.  The 
prairie  fires,  the  matted,  tough  sward,  the  grazing  of  wild  ani- 
mals in  the  neighborhood  of  the  groves  to  which  they  resorted, 
the  aboriginal  encampments  usually  located  around  the  borders 
of  the  groves  would  seem  to  present  sutficient  explanation  why 
the  groves  have  not  extended,  independently  of  the  quality  of 
the  soil.  That  the  cultivation  of  the  prairie  soils  improves 
their  condition  for  the  growth  of  trees  is  jj roved  by  the  more 
vigorous  growth  of  those  where  the  ground  is  cultivated  than 
those  which  spring  from  seeds  accidentally  scattered  on  the 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PIlAIRIi:S.  47 

prairie   along  the  borders   of  tlie   groves;    but  this  is  true  of 
herbaceous  vegetation  as  well. 

Who  that  is  intimately  acquainted  witli  and  has  carefully 
studied  the  prairies  will  dispute  that  the  soil  of  the  groves  ha> 
1jeen  formed  by  the  same  process  that  has  formed  the  soil  of 
the  treeless  prairies?  The  theory  that  these  groves  mark  out 
the  places  where  the  agitated  waters  have  thrown  up  eml)ank- 
ments,  which  cut  oif  the  shallow  waters  where  the  nakcvl  prai- 
ries have  been  formed,  is  not  sustained  by  either  the  topog- 
raphy or  the  geography  of  the  ground.  If  this  theory  wort- 
true,  we  should  find  the  groves  in  continuous  lines,  upon  ele- 
vated ridges,  composed  of  sand  and  gravel,  such  as  we  uni- 
formly find  to  comj^rise  those  dykes,  which,  undoubtedly,  have 
been  formed  as  supposed,  and  have  performed  the  office  as- 
signed them.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case.  In  very  few 
instances  do  we  fmd  the  groves  occupying  continuous,  unbroken 
ridges  of  any  considerable  extent.  We  find  them  scattered  over 
the  prairies,  without  law  or  order,  excepting  only  the  condition 
of  water  in  some  form  in  their  vicinity,  which  may  serve  to 
protect  them  from  the  contiagrations  of  the  ])rairies.  This  water 
need  not  charge  the  soil  itself  with  humidity  in  order  to  secuie 
the  growth  of  trees,  for  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  the  groves 
occupying  the  highest  and  dryest  knolls,  l)ut  at  their  feet,  or  at 
least  so  near  as  to  serve  as  a  protection,  water  is  sure  to  be 
found.  In  former  times,  when  the  traveler,  in  crossing  the 
great,  wild  prairies,  saw  a  grove  in  the  distance,  he  shaped  his 
course  to  it,  with  the  absolute  certainty  of  finding  water  there, 
no  matter  how  dry  or  parched  the  prairie  might  be. 

The  soil,  too,  gives  no  evidence  of  an  accumulation  of  mate- 
rial, such  as  is  usually  thrown  up  by  agitated  waters.  When 
we  penetrate  the  soil  of  the  woodlands,  even  to  great  depths,  as 
in  digging  wells,  and  the  like,  we  find  the  same  formations 
which  are  met  wath  in  the  surrounding  prairies.  I  have  already 
alluded  to  the  fact  that  whenever  we  find  a  chain  of  groves 
occupying  the  high  divides  of  the  water  sheds  of  the  pnuries, 
they  are  generally  separated  by  deep  depressions,  wliich  would 
have  destroyed  them  as  dykes  for  tiie  separation  of  the  waters. 

As  I  have  already  stated,  I  am  prepared  to  admit,  a.s  almost  a 
demonstrated  fact,  that  not  only  our  great  prairies,  I)ut  also  our 
c^reat  forest  lands  and  the  desert  plains,  filling  all  the  space 


4S  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

between  the  AUeglienies  nnd  the  Rocky  Mountains,  were  orig- 
inally formed  or  dejiosited  ufider  water,  from  which  they  have 
emerged  by  some  i^rocess  of  nature,  probably  very  slow;  but 
this  elevation  has  not  been  dependent,  to  any  considerable 
degree,  upon  additional  deposits,  but  npun  the  actual  upheaval 
of  the  mass  of  matter  originally  submerged,  or  the  subsidence 
of  the  waters  by  the  removal  of  barriers  whicli  once  restrained 
them.  And  yet,  if  all  prairies  have  been  formed  as  supposed 
l)y  the  theory  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  criticising, 
they  have  been  formed  l:)y  deposits  in  the  water  till,  by  succes- 
sive accumulations,  they  have  iinally  emerged  above  the  waters. 

To  me  the  evidence  that  this  is  not  so  is  aljsnlutely  conclu- 
sive, as  well  as  that  the  deposits  have  been  very  insignificant, 
since  they  were  deeply  buried  under  the  waters.  I  will  state 
some  of  the  facts,  within  the  observation  of  all  men,  which  have 
led  me  to  this  conclusion. 

I  think  it  is  universally  accepted,  at  least  among  scientific 
men,  that  the  rocks  (called  boulders)  scattererd  over  most  of  our 
prairies,  at  least  east  of  the  Missouri  river  and  north  of  latitude 
forty,  have  Ijeen  transported  from  their  original  beds  in  the 
north  to  their  present  jjlaces  by  means  of  floating  ice.  Apart 
from  the  admitted  fact  that  this  is  not  their  native  place,  or 
that  they  did  not  grow  here,  and  hence  must  have  been  trans- 
ported by  some  agency,  and  of  our  absolute  inability  to  con- 
ceive of  any  other  caj^able  of  j'l'odwcing  such  results,  many  of 
the  masses,  especially  in  the  Iowa  prairies,  weighing  Imndreds 
of  tons  each,  and  the  additional  fact  that  their  rounded  form 
has  been  acquired  by  alirasion,  by  which  their  sharp  angles 
liave  been  worn  away  since  they  were  detached  from  their  origi- 
nal beds,  and  we  can  conceive  of  no  other  adequate  agency  to 
produce  this  result  but  moving  water  and  ice, — I  sav,  aside  fiom 
all  this  evidence,  within  two  miles  of  where  I  now  write,  the 
most  convincing  evidence  exists  tliat  these  boulders  were 
brought  by  icebergs.  To  the  norti),  but  more  especially  to  the 
west,  of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  and  ahnost  within  its  limits,  it  is 
easy  to  trace  the  exact  size  and  form  of  the  masses  of  ice,  wlierc 
they  grounded  and  deposited  their  freight  of  boulders.  There 
one  may  walk  over  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  a  half  an  aci-e,  or  several 
acres,  according  to  the  size  of  the  mass,  always  stepping  on 
these  stones,  thus  deposited  close  together  as  they  were  when 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  49 

embraced  by  the  congealing  waters,  and  outside  of  the  borders 
not  a  single  stone  can  be  found  till  another  similar  collection 
is  met  with.  The  borders  of  these  collections  are  as  sharply 
defined  as  if  marked  with  a  wall.  Here,  too,  another  interest- 
ing fact  may  be  observed,  which  shows  that  they  were  not 
transported  in  one  voyage  from  their  original  homes  to  their 
present  resting  place.  We  observe  a  single  collection  com- 
posed of  a  great  variety  of  rocks — several  kinds  of  granite,  trap 
gneis,  sienite,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  others,  which  we  know, 
from  their  far  distant  beds,  had  been  drifted  or  rolled  together 
from  long  distances,  and  worn  to  their  present  form,  before 
they  were  picked  up  for  their  last  voyage. 

The  rock-bound  shores  of  Lake  Superior  show  us  how  these 
boulders  were  formed.  There,  in  many  places,  we  may  see 
before  us  the  lately-detached  blocks  of  rock,  with  all  their 
angles  sharp,  and,  as  we  pass  down  from  the  top  of  the  cliff 
over  the  broken  masses  to  the  very  edge  of  the  water,  and  even 
look  beneath  it,  we  find  the  angles  of  the  blocks  more  and 
more  worn,  and  the  masses  themselves  smaller,  till  at  last, 
when  we  reach  the  water  and  look  into  it,  we  see  before  us  the 
smooth,  rounded  boulders,  as  we  see  them  on  our  prairies ;  and 
if  we  will  stand  there  when  a  heavy  sea  is  rolling  in,  we  shall 
see  the  great  blocks  of  stone  jostled  together  and  the  process 
of  abrasion  going  on  before  our  eyes.  It  may  take  a  thousand 
great  storms  to  wear  away  an  ounce  from  a  single  block,  yet 
enough  millions  of  such  storms  will  at  least  do  the  work,  and 
that  effectually.  Perhaps  the  most  accessible  point  where  this 
manufacturing  of  boulders  can  be  witnessed  is  on  the  mainland 
west  of  Partridge  Island,  a  few  miles  above  Marquette.  I  can- 
not forbear  to  mention  one  other  interesting  evidence  of  the 
transportation  of  these  boulders.  A  few  miles  south  of  Water- 
loo, in  Black  Hawk  county,  Iowa,  is  the  fragment  of  an  im- 
mense boulder,  which  must  weigh  many  hundred  tons,  showing 
on  one  side  a  distant  face  of  a  comparatively  recent  fracture, 
and  I  was  crediljly  informed  that  many  miles  distant  a  similar 
fragment  existed,  with  a  face  the  counterpart  of  this,  s'howiug 
that  at  one  time  both  had  constituted  one  mass. 

Now,  assuming  that  our  prairie  boulders  were  transportc.i  by 
icebergs  to  their  present  places,  and  that  we  are,  in  some  cases 
at  least,  enabled  to  determine  the  minimum  sizes  of  the  bergs 

4 


50  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

which  brought  them,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
prairies  were  covered  by  deep  waters  at  the  time  of  their  trans- 
portation. We  may  safely  assume  that  ancient  bergs  resembled 
those  now  seen  floating  from  the  frigid  zones  into  lower  lati- 
tudes, where  they  often  ground  and  are  melted  away,  depositing 
whatever  heavy  material  they  have  brought  with  them  from 
tlieir  starting  point,  which  we  are  told  by  arctic  navigators  is 
always  at  or  near  the  shore.  If  this  be  so,  we  know  they  must 
have  required  a  great  depth  of  water  to  float  them.  Bergs  are 
now  frequently  met  with  projecting  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
water ;  and,  as  they  float  with  at  least  five  sixths  of  the  mass 
under  water,  we  may  form  an  apiDroximate  idea  of  the  depth  of 
the  water  here  when  these  boulders  were  deijosited.  At  least, 
we  may  assume  that  is  was  very  considerable.  Had  there  been 
any  considerable  deposit  after  these  boulders  were  dropped 
where  we  now  see  them,  while  they  were  being  elevated  above 
the  waters,  they  must  have  been  deeply  buned  beneath  this 
deposit,  and  we  should  not  have  this  clear  evidence,  at  least,  of 
tlie  former  submergence  and  of  the  very  insignificant  deposi- 
tion during  the  process  of  elevation  from  beneath  the  waters. 
I  claim  no  originality  in  these  suggestions.  I  have  only 
stated  what  I  believe  to  be  the  acce])ted  theory  by  the  most 
observing  and  reflecting  men  in  accounting  for  the  presence  of 
the  prairie  boulders ;  but  what  I  claim  is,  that  the  patent  facts 
stated  are  inconsistent  with  the  theory  that  the  great  body  of 
our  prairies  have  been  built  up  by  accumulations  and  deposits 
in  shallow  water  till  they  were  I'aised  above  it,  and  then  finally 
till  they  have  attained  their  present  altitudes.  I  say  the 
boulders  alone  absolutely  forbid  this,  unless  they,  too,  were 
deposited  in  very  shallow  water,  or  in  most  cases  long  after  the 
emergence.  But  few  facts  have  ever  been  established  by  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  more  conclusively  than  this. 

But  even  admitting  the  shallow  pond  theory  as  fully  estab- 
lished, and  clearly  showing  liow  all  the  soil  of  the  prairies  has 
been  formed,  and  it  by  no  means  aflbrds  as  satisfactory  a  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  ])resented  by  the  absence  of  trees  upon 
the  prairies  as  I  have  attempted  to  show  in  a  previous  portion 
of  this  paper. 

Indeed,  we  venture  upon  very  much  whenever  we  assume  to 
explain  all   the   laws    l^y  which   nature   works   out   her  great 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  51 

results,  or  to  state  all  the  causes  which  may  have  tended  to 
produce  this  one  result.  One  cause  or  set  of  causes,  if  I  may 
use  the  expression,  may  have  produced  it  in  anotlier  place. 
While  we  may  have  clear  proofs  of  the  existence  and  operation 
of  some  of  these  causes,  we  may  not  deny  that  others,  and 
many  of  them,  have  been  operatiuj,'  for  ages  since  the  prairies 
became  dry  land,  first  to  promote  the  growth  of  one  kind  of 
vegetation  which  by  other  causes  has  been  destroyed  and 
replaced  by  another,  and,  for  aught  we  know,  this  process  may 
have  been  many  times  repeated.  In  contemplating  these  works 
of  nature  we  are  too  apt  to  confine  our  reflections  to  yesterday. 
When  we  pause,  and  let  the  mind  run  back  through  the  vista 
of  time  till  it  becomes  bewildered  and  lost  in  the  contempla- 
^  tion  of  distance  without  end,  we  are  then  prepared,  wlien  we 
return  to  complete  consciousness,  to  appreciate  that  the  growth 
of  the  oldest  tree  of  tlie  forest,  when  considered  in  relation  to 
past  time,  has  been  as  rapid  as  is  that  of  the  eastern  magician, 
who  plants  the  seed  of  the  orange  before  your  eyes,  and  wliile 
you  yet  look  the  tender  plant  springs  from  the  ground  and 
grows  up  to  a  full  sized  tree,  bears  blossoms,  which  fade  and 
fall,  and  the  green  fruit  appears  in  their  places,  which  immedi- 
ately grows  to  its  full  size,  matures  and  ripens,  and  you  are 
invited  to  pluck  and  eat,  and  you  find  in  your  hands  a  verita- 
ble orange,  rich,  juicy,  and  nourishing.  I  say  this  is  but  the 
history  of  our  oldest  forest  trees,  when  contemplated  with 
reference  to  the  ages  that  must  have  elapsed  since  this  land 
emerged  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters.  During  all  these  roll- 
ing years  surely  there  has  been  time  enough  for  the  prairies  to 
have  been  clothed  with  forests,  and  again  denuded  of  their 
trees,  and  for  the  j^rocess  to  have  been  many  times  repeated,  by 
agencies  not  beyond  our  comprehension  of  nature's  laws.  But 
because  this  may  have  been,  I  have  no  warrant  for  saying  tliat 
it  has  been,  for  the  want  of  tangible  proof  of  the  fact.  I  may 
even  assert  its  probability,  or  my  belief  that  it  has  l.)een  so,  but 
at  last  it  is  but  conjecture,  and  as  such  alone  may  be  suggest- 
ed. Still  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  study  of 
the  geology  of  this  country,  in  some  of  its  departments  at  least, 
is  yet  in  its  earliest  inflmcy.  May  we  not  reasonably  hope  that 
its  maturity  will  develop  facts  which  will  dispel  the  oltscurity 
which  now  veils  many  subjects  of  most  interesting   inquiry, 


52  ORIGIN  OP  THE  PRAIRIES. 

and  enable  us  to  read  the  past  in  a  clear  and  convincing  light? 
For  instance,  the  prairies  abound  in  beds  of  peat,  of  greater  or 
less  extent,  some  of  vast  proportions.  As  yet  these  are  com- 
paratively sealed  volumes  of  history,  which,  when  they  shall 
be  opened  and  read,  as  they  have  been  in  what  we  call  the 
older  countries  of  the  world,  will  reveal  the  record  of  bygone 
ages.  What  treasures  of  truths  have  been  revealed  by  the 
examinations  of  the  peat-beds  of  Denmark,  to  which  reference 
may  be  made  as  quite  appropriate  to  the  present  inquiry! 
These  are  of  depths  varying  only  from  ten  to  thirty  feet, 
formed  like  ours,  in  basins  in  the  drift.  They  tell  us  as  jjlainly 
as  if  written  in  a  book,  of  the  different  successive  forests  which 
there  have  lived  and  flourished,  and  finally  disappeared,  and 
been  succeeded  by  others.  The  oldest  which  they  reveal  is 
the  Scotch  Fir,  {pinus  sylvestris,)  which  is  not  now  found  in  Den- 
marK,  and  cannot  even  be  domesticated  there.  Then  succeed 
several  varieties  of  the  oak,  one  after  another,  and  so  on,  until 
finally  at  the  last  the  beech  is  found,  which  is  still  the  common 
forest  tree  of  Denmark,  and  so  it  was  two  thousand  years  ago, 
as  we  learn  from  wi'itten  history.  How  admirably  do  we  here 
find  united  into  a  long  chain  of  history  the  various  links  which 
we  see  deposited  in  these  beds  of  peat,  the;  last  of  which, 
being  united  with  and  interpreted  by  written  history  enable 
us  to  read  nil  the  rest,  with  almost  as  much  confidence  as  if 
tlic  written  history  extended  back  to  the  time  when  the  first 
layer  of  peat  was  deposited.  How  shall  we  restrain  our  im- 
patience till  the  seal  shall  be  broken  to  similar  volumes  of 
history,  which  lie  profusely  scattered  all  over  prairie  land, 
waiting  to  be  opened  and  read  by  the  discriminating  geologist? 
There  we  may  reasonably  hope  to  find  facts  which  will  throw  a 
flood  of  light  on  the  suliject  of  our  present  inquiry.  There 
alone  may  we  hope  to  learn,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, what  kinds  of  vegetation  have  grown  on  these  great 
plains  in  the  long  gone  ages  of  the  far  distant  past. 

But  the  supposition  of  igneous  agency  in  producing  the 
effect  under  consideration  is  not  a  mere  speculation  or  con- 
jecture. It  is  an  established  fact,  proved  by  such  evidence  as 
leaves  no  room  for  controversy.  So  that,  whatever  else  maj'  also 
have  contributed  to  the  same  result,  fire  at  least  has  done  its 
share.     In  almost  every  year,  in  some  part  of  the  country,  whole 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  53 

forests  are  consumed  by  fire.    In  a  majority  of  instances,  no 
doubt,  a  new  growth  of  trees  takes  the  place  of  the  old,  but 
such  is  not  always  the  case.     Mr.  Daniel  Ebcrsol,  of  this  city, 
who  is  a  good  observer,  and  of  undoubted  veracity,  informs  me 
that  many  years  ago,  on  the  Vermilion  River,  a  fire  occurred, 
under  his  own  observation,  which  utterly  destroyed,  root  and 
branch,  an  entire  hard-wood  forest,  and  that  the  entire  liurnt 
district  was  directly  taken   possession  of  by  the   herbaceous 
plants  peculiar  to  the  prairies,  and  that  in  a  very  few  years  it 
could  not  be  distinguished  from  the  adjoining  prairie,  except 
by  its  greater  luxuriance.     The  testimony  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Shaw, 
who  has  resided  upon  the  prairies  of  Illinois  for  more  than 
fifty,  and  upon  his  farm,  within  two  miles  of  Ottawa,  for  more 
than  forty  years,  is  equally  to  the  point.    He  assures  me  that 
he  has  known  many  forest  districts  entirely  burned  over  and 
every  living  thing  upon  them  destroyed.     Generally  they  were 
replaced  with  trees  similar  to  the   former  growth ;   but  that 
sometimes  the  prairie  herbage  takes  and  maintains  possession. 
He  cites  an  instance  on  his  own  farm,  where,  forty  years  ago, 
when  he  took   possession,  there  was  a  forest  of  large  trees, 
which   was   destroyed  liy  a  fire,  when  a  part   of  the   burned 
district  was  again  covered   with  trees,  and  a  part  was  taken 
possession  of  by  the  prairie  grass,  and  in  a  comparatively  short 
time  could  not  be  distinguished  from   the  adjoining  prairie. 
He  mentions  another  occurrence  of  the  same  kind,  within  his 
own  observation,  in  Putnam  county.     All  who  know  Mr.  Shaw, 
as  I  have  for  a  third  of  a  century,  will  place  implicit  confi- 
dence in  the  truth  of  his  statements  and  the  accuracy  of  his 
observations.     Indeed,  the   character  of  the  latter  is   such  as 
scarcely  to  admit  of  mistake.     But  corroljorating  testimony  is 
abundant.     I  have  conversed  with  many  old  settlers  in  difiVrent 
parts  of  the  prairie  regions,  who  mention  similar  occurrences. 
I  venture  the  assertion,  that  a  thousand  witnesses  may  be  found 
still  living  who  can  state  particular  instances  of  the  same  kind. 
In  my  early  wanderings  over  the  wild  prairies  it  several  times 
occurred,  when  approaching  a  body  of  timber,  that  I  met   in 
the  prairie  grass  charred  remains  of  forest  trees,  perhaps  half  a 
mile  or  more  from  the  edge  of  the  wood,  and  I  have  in  no 
instance  inquired  of  one  who  had  similar  facilities  for  ob.-^erva- 
tion  who  did  not  remember  having  oljserved  the  same  thing. 


54  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES. 

In  a  former  part  of  this  paper  I  have  shown,  ))y  evidence 
which  may  be  seen  and  comprehended  at  this  day  by  every 
observer,  how  jjrairies  have  been  and  are  still  being  converted 
into  forests.  I  have  now  stated,  with  considerable  particularity, 
evidence  satisfactorily  showing  how  forests  have  been  con- 
verted into  prairies.  This  seems  to  me  of  the  very  essence  of 
the  inquiry,  which  can  alone  be  solved  by  evidence  of  autheu-- 
ticated  facts,  one  ounce  of  which  should  be  entitled  to  more 
weight  than  a  pound  of  ingenious  conjecture. 

How  vain,  then,  are  the  most  plausible  theories  and  fine-spun 
speculations,  when  we  have  this  palpable,  tangible  proof  of  the 
actual  process  by  which  the  result  has  been  produced,  and  that 
by  a  simple  cause  adequate  to  the  result.  If  the  thousand  wit- 
nesses who  have  observed  this  process  going  on  before  their 
very  eyes  had  been  in  the  habit  of  writing  and  publishing  their 
observations  for  the  last  half  century,  the  question  would  have 
been  long  since' so  conclusively  settled,  both  among  the  learned 
and  the  unlearned,  that  all  men  would  be  surprised  that  it  was 
ever  a  subject  of  dispute.  The  great  danger  to  truth  would 
have  been  that  too  much  eflFect  would  have  been  attributed  to 
igneous  agency.  For  myself,  while  I  am  prepared  to  believe 
that  this  has  been  the  most  potent  of  all  the  causes  contributing 
to  the  result,  I  am  also  prepared  to  admit  that  there  have  been 
many  minor  auxiliary  causes  aiding  the  principal  one,  which 
may  have  escaped  the  attention  of  observers.  Least  of  all  of 
these  are  the  facts,  which  may  be  considered  established  as 
such,  and  which  tend  to  support  what  may  be  termed  the  shal- 
low pond  theory.  Those  which  are  invoked  in  sujoport  of  what 
may  be  termed  the  arid  theory  may  have  had  a  considerable 
influence  in  aid  of  the  prairie  fires  on  wdiat  may  be  termed  the 
fertile  prairie,  and  even  the  most  controlling  cause  on  the  desert 
plains,  where  both  herbs  and  trees  are  nearly  wanting  for  the 
lack  of  moisture  to  sustain  them,  even  if  once  there  planted. 
Where  there  is  not  suflnlcieut  rainfall  to  sustain  trees  when 
planted,  we  maj'  reasonably  assume  that  that  is  the  cause  of 
their  absence ;  but  I  am  slow  to  believe  that  this,  or  the  pecu- 
liar constituents  of  the  soil,  is  the  principal  cause  where  trees 
grow  and  flourish  vigorously  when  once  introduced.  The  same 
cause  which  keeps  them  away  should  kill  them  when  present, 
if  still  operating.     If  there  is  less  annual   rainfall  in  prairie 


OKIGIN  OF  THE  PRAIRIES.  55 

than  in  timber  districts,  we  may  appreciate  that  fires,  from  that 
cause,  may  have  been  more  frequent  and  more  destructive,  wliilc 
our  daily  observation  proves  that  the  limited  quantity  of  rains 
does  not  render  the  soil  or  the  atmosphere  unadajjted  to  the 
growth  of  trees,  at  least  on  the  prairies  east  of  the  Missouri 
River. 

In  grouping  together  some  of  the  focts  in  support  of  what 
may  be  denominated  the  igneous  theory,  I  but  state  a  theory 
which  is  as  old  as  the  first  white  settlements  upon  the  prairies; 
but  because  it  has  been  universally  accepted  by  those  who  have 
had  the  greatest  opportunities  for  ol)servi»o-  the  facts  bearing 
upon  the  question,  although  they  make  no  pretensions  to  scien- 
tific attainments,— for  that  reason  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to 
reject  it,  and  with  it  a  great  volume  of  facts  which  seem  to 
conclusively  establish  it.  At  least  till  some  one  else  shall  pro- 
duce other  tangible  facts,  as  well  supported  by  proof  as  these, 
in  support  of  some  other  theory,  and  tendiug  to  prove  the  fal- 
lacy of  the  conclusions  deduced  from  these,  I  must  believe  that 
the  popular  opinion  of  the  country  is  in  the  main  correct. 

Perhaps  I  have  too  little  respect  for  mere  theories,  and  too 
much  reverence  for  facts.  I  cannot  be  content  with  general 
observations  of  facts  witliout  descending  to  their  minute  de- 
tails, which  in  my  view  become  of  immense  importance  as  qual- 
ifying or  explaining  more  general  observation.  If  without  the 
careful  study  of  well-established  fiicts,  mere  theories  may  be 
draped  in  the  tinsel  glitter  of  learned  speculations,  they  can 
never  satisfy  that  ^wholesome  craving  for  exact  knowledge, 
which  alone  forms  a  sure  basis  for  definite  conclusions.  Science 
has  sometimes  sufl^ered'grievous  wrong  from  some  of  her  votaries, 
who  have  felt  called  jupon  to  explain  everything,  whether  expli- 
cable or  not  by  ascertained  facts;  and,  indeed,  the  more  occult 
the  explanation,  the  more  profound  would  their  learning  ap- 
pear. If  it  so  happen  that  manifest  facts  are  opi)osed  to  their 
theories,  wiiy — so, much  the  worse  for  the  facts! 


(     ' 


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